A Research Of Church-State Relations In Japan

The topic of Church-State relations is one of the unavoidable topics in Japanese research areas. The topic is possilble to talk, however, how to start it which seems so hard for us. Only to find the right entry points, can it become sharp ideas and profound views. This paper intends to choose Shinto and the imperial system as a breakthrough to demonstrate the relations. The relationship between Japan’s traditional national religion-Shinto and Japan’s unique government mode-Tennoism are very special in the process of the historical development, which is almost unexampled in the world. Both combine each other, promote each other and they become closely-interconnected. So to speak, grasping the context of the development of Japanese Shinto and the imperial system means grasping the law of the life of the Japanese nation, and grasping the spiritual core of Japan.In the academic field, we often found the study of Shinto and also a lot about the Tennoism. However, to analyze the relationship between the two from the perspective of Church-State Relations are few. The research system of the Church-State relations is not perfect at all, due to those reasons, the essay was made up this blank to explain those problems.Firstly, this paper demonstrates the relationship between Shinto and the imperial system from the microscopic point of view, which takes Shinto’s development from the religious perspective and the Tennoism’s change in political system as double main line. Through searching the collision place of the Shinto and the imperial system, analyzing it based on screening large numbers of historical sources and consulting academic data. This paper expounds the four parts, which is the relationship of the Mikado System of the establishment and the original Shinto, the role of the theory of Shinto in the ancient imperial system of the deformation process, the establishment background of the State Shinto, the development path of the modern imperial system, the establishment of the modern symbol of the Mikado’s and the policy of Japan’s separation of church. To sum up the previous sections, the several parts completely represent the alternate process of the Japanese imperial system and the development of the Japanese Shinto, which are interrelated and indispensable and can be mapped from the origin at the church-state relations in Japan in all.Secondly, the comprehensive analysis which dialectically analyzing the interaction between Shinto and Tennoism and their respective functions was summarized to Church-State Relations from a macro point of view.The symbolic function of Shinto in the Mikado and the Mikado’s religious function were demonstrated deeply, to study the cultural symbolic function, and social symbolic function of Shinto in the Mikado, and the Mikado in the sociology of religion level reflects the Emperor worship and religious culture locking phenomenon, theoretically through the comprehensive study of church-state relations in Japan. Starting from the academic division for the type of church-state relations, the essay is explained the theoretical connotation of a variety of church-state relations model in detail, combined with the second and third chapters of Church-State relations sections which defines the church-state relations theoretical model of Japan.Lastly, in the epilogue, taking Yasukuni Shrine as an example theoretically analyzes of secularism in today’s Japan policy and politics, ritual, and religious relations, researching the impact of church-state relations in Japan on today’s Sino-Japanese bilateral relations.