264 CHAPTER TENleaders. The number of quasi-religious groups skyrocketed from 98 in 1924 to
more than 1,000 in 1935. To escape government harassment, many of them
affiliated themselves with official Buddhist organizations. Prominent among
these new groups were Soka Gakkai and Rissho Kosei-kai, both associated
with the Nichiren sect. Mter World War II, these and similar movements were
to overshadow the traditional organizations that had offered them shelter be-
fore and during the war.10.9 The Rise of Modern Urban Folk Buddhism
Japan's defeat in World War II, together with the subsequent American occu-
pation and rapid postwar industrialization, brought about radical changes in
the nation's religious life. Defeat meant that religious institutions that had col-
laborated with the government's war effort were discredited in the public eye.
Occupation meant that American notions of religious freedom, democracy,
and the separation of church and state became the law of the land. Industrial-
ization and urbanization meant that the family and village social structure
began to break down. These factors combined to hurt the cause of traditional
Buddhism and to spark a phenomenal growth in the new religions, some of
which incorporated Buddhist elements.
In 1945, the occupation force dissolved the official structure of State
Shinto; in 1946, the emperor publicly denied his divinity; in 194 7, the tradi-
tional system of interlocking households was dismantled, so that individuals
were no longer bound by their family religion. A policy of land distribution
was enacted to help create the stable middle class that a secure democracy
would require, but this involved confiscating much of the land that had pro-
vided the income for Buddhist temples. The combined effect of these direc-
tives was to create, for the first time in Japanese history, a totally secular
government; to give individuals total religious freedom; and to force many
Buddhist priests into taking on lay occupations so as to support their families,
thus limiting their time and ability to meet the new religious needs of the
laity.
The government pursued its new secular role with the same single-minded
deter'mination with which it had pursued its earlier religious and militaristic
goals. As was traditional in Japanese society, it functioned essentially as a feder-
ation of ujis, although now the ujis were industrial conglomerates. The lesson
of the war was that pure spirit alone could not overcome technological supe-
riority, so the government's efforts were now aimed at technological and eco-
nomic progress. Much of Japan's postwar economic success can be traced to
the same combination of Zen single-mindedness and Confucian devotion to
one's social duty that had marked the Way of the Warrior. Zen monks were
again called upon to teach meditation, this time to corporate workers and ex-
ecutives so that they would be able to devote themselves totally to their sales