Kyoto Imperial University, justified Japanese imperialism with their ideas of
Buddhism as postmodern, post-Western wisdom. Scholars of religion who
supported Japanese imperialism ideologically were not limited to the Kyoto
School, however. Recent research (cf. Suzuki 2005) has revealed that even
scholars of Christianity at Christian colleges shared the ethnic supremacism.
This demonstrates a danger found in discourse attacking Western hegemony
and modernity, namely, that it can invite a different form of oppression.
Key thinkers and texts
The leading scholars of the first generation were Masaharu Anesaki, Tetsujirÿ
Inoue, Nobuta Kishimoto (1866–1928), Genchi Katÿ(1873–1965), Kitarÿ
Nishida (1870–1945), and Seiichi Hatano (1877–1950). Anesaki, who is
credited with being the founder of modern religious studies in Japan, published
Shkyÿgaku gairon(Introduction to the study of religion) in 1900, which was
comprised of four chapters, ‘Psychology of Religion’, ‘Ethics of Religion’,
‘Sociology of Religion’ and ‘Pathology of Religion’. Then, after studying in
Germany and other European countries, he wrote Fukkatsu no shokÿ(The
Aurora of revival) in 1904. In striking contrast to the scientific tone of the
previous work, Fukkatsu no shokÿ,which was entitled after Jakob Böhme’s
Aurora, was full of spiritual visions and critical of modern rationalization.
Having a Buddhist background, Anesaki also published a number of books
on Buddhist thought and history, some of them in English (Anesaki [1930]
1995). Along with him, Nobuta Kishimoto, a Unitarian who had studied at
Harvard, played a role in laying the cornerstone of religious studies.
On the other hand, Katÿinitiated new Shintÿstudies from the perspective
of comparative religion (Kato ̄ [1926] 1971). He opposed the government’s
definition of Shintÿas ‘non-religious’ and claimed that it was a religion
comparable with other religions in the world. His opinion, however, served
an apologetic rather than critical purpose. He believed that if one did not
recognize the religious nature of Shintÿ, one failed to grasp its essence, which
forms the Japanese spirit (Asoya 2005: 154). As a result, he never questioned
the divine origin of the imperial family. It was left to the historian, Sÿkichi
Tsuda (1873–1961), to approach Japanese myths from a scientific standpoint,
and in response he was accused of defaming the Emperor.
Both Nishida and Hatano were philosophers of religion at Kyoto Imperial
University. Nishida, the author of A Study of Good(1911), established the
Kyoto School by developing the philosophy of absolute nothingness out of
Zen Buddhism and Western philosophy. He was on close terms with Daisetz
T. Suzuki (1870–1966), the most well-known Japanese Zen Buddhist
philosopher in Western countries, who pioneered in spreading Buddhism
abroad. In contrast, Hatano was affiliated with Protestantism and was scarcely
concerned with Eastern philosophy.
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
2
3111
4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1
2
3
4
35
6
7
8
9
40111
42222
3
411
JAPAN
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