The Political Philosophy of Modern Shint (Volume 49; V. 564); A Study of the State Religion of Japan (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Japanese Interpretations Of Shinto: The Ethical Definition. Solutions of the shrine problem presented by contemporary Japanese Shintoists resolve themselves into two general classes of interpretation, (i) the nationalistic-ethical and (2) the nationalistic-religious. Both forms of interpretation are equally penetrated by a point of view which Japanese Shintoists attempt to expound as the mark of the fundamental social mind of their race, namely, a group consciousness or social and political loyalty which is represented to be of such strength as to dominate and very frequently to eliminate individualism.1 The solidarity of the primitive " we-group " has made its way up through the clan spirit of feudalism into the modern state; the particularism of the old feudal order has been drawn together about a national emotional center in the Imperial House " of unbroken line throughout all time as Heaven and Earth eternal." Under the stimulus of modern conflicts with external forces this social mind has become extraordinarily self-conscious and is manifesting itself in the form of a nationalism which, as set forth by a large group of Japanese apologists, is supposedly supported by a patriotism which is unique in human history. This situation in modern Japanese social psychology has been indicated in the above terminology by the application of the term " nationalistic" to both forms of the interpretation of Shinto. The difference between the two lies largely in the I. Cf. Uehara, G. E., The Political Development of Japan, p 19; Kato, Naoshi, " Eastern Ideals and the Japanese Spirit," T. J. S. L., Vol. XIII (1914-15, Pt I, p. 142; Haga, Yaeichi, Kokuminsei Juron (jj?, gJStJ-H, " Ten lectures on National Traits," Tokyo, 1914, I2th ed.), p. 4 ff.; Tanaka, Yoshit...