Buddhism and Politics in Wartime Japan: The Case of the Nishi Honganji Sect

In this paper, I have analyzed the Nishi Honganji sect during the period between July 1937, when the Sino-Japanese war began, and the end of World War II. The leaders of the sect simply accepted the analysis of the situation provided by the government. The question of how to cope with the situation was taken up within the sect by a committee headed by the abbot and the executive director and incluiding representatives to the sect's parliament, heads of the executive departments, scholars and preachers. Through their debates, the sect's policy to accept the government's policies was created. Their opinions were passed down from the top and the priests and believers were mobilized to support the war effort. In this way the sect aided in aggression and control of occupied territories. The theoretical basis of the sect's policy was provided by an understanding of "Shin Buddhism" founded on the "sectarian doctrine" of the "teaching of the two truths, absolute and secular." During this age, there was constant call to "revolutionize" the "sect's doctrines" and "doctrinal teachings" in order to overcome the traditional "sect's doctrines" based on textual studies, which were decried as being impractical. Thus was created the "wartime doctrinal studies" which aimed to persuade people to accept the national policies of aggression. It preached, inwardly, the attainment of "diamond-like faith," and outwardly, the doctrine that "the king's law is foundational and loyalty is primary." Its aim was to ensure the submission of the sect to the state. In this way, faith was made to converge with birth in the Pure Land after death, while in daily life obedience to the state was required. Under the name of Shin faith, priests and believers were made to submit to the state. When Nishi Honganji was reorganized under the "Wartime Patriotic System," in essence, the sect turned into an organ of the state. As a result, it lost its raison d'etre (that is to say, its own social and religious concern as a Shin Buddhist denomination), and in practice, it collapsed