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CHAPTER FIVE THE Re-Creation OF MEIJI SHRINE 1945–1958 At 10:00 p.m. on 13th April 1945, air-raid warnings sounded through Tokyo. During the following three and a half hours some 170 B-29s attacked the city, with Meiji shrine receiving a direct hit.1 Around 00:40 a.m. on 14th April, incendiary bombs hit the shrine buildings, including the Hon- den (Main Sanctuary); shrine priests endeavoured to save the sacred objects of worship (mitamashiro) by moving them from the Honden to the Treasure House. Over 1,300 M69-type incendiary bombs were dropped on the inner precinct during this attack and ultimately many other shrine buildings were obliterated [Fig. 33]. The post-war re-creation of the shrine, the theme of this chapter, means the literal re-building of the shrine after the onslaught; Meiji shrine was created for a second time, at the same site. The shrine’s post-war situ- ation was inevitably quite different from that of the Taisho period. The Occupation period, the seven years from Douglas MacArthur’s arrival in Japan on 30th August 1945 to the implementation of the San Francisco Peace Treaty on 28th April 1952, saw the introduction of a large num- ber of reforms and regulations. I begin my discussion on the shrine’s re-creation with an examination of the Allied forces’ wartime policy on the post-war shrine and Shinto, as it ultimately determined the form of the post-war Meiji shrine. The process of shrine re-creation can be divided into three stages. The first stage saw the formulation of Allied wartime policy designed to circumscribe Meiji shrine (approximately 1941–1945). The U.S. Department of State began to prepare basic plans for post-war Japan soon after the outbreak of World War II.2 Various Western intellectuals and journalists as well as Japan experts in the department participated in policy making, and their understanding of Shinto greatly influenced the post-war status 1 General accounts on the damage to the shrine are drawn from Gojūnenshi, ed., Meiji jingū gojūnenshi hensan iinkai, 160–171. 2 General accounts on policy making in the U.S. Department of State for post-war Japan are drawn from Iokibe Makoto, Beikoku no Nihon senryō seisaku, 2 vols.; Hugh Borton, American Presurrender Planning for Postwar Japan; Spanning Japan’s Modern Century. Christopher Thorne, Allies of a kind. 198 chapter five Figure 33. The Honden of Meiji shrine, destroyed by bomb attacks in 1945. (Meiji Shrine Archives). of Meiji shrine. In April 1944, the department’s Committee of Post-War Programs (PWC) prepared a memorandum regarding freedom of worship in Japan. The memorandum, PWC 115, made specific reference to Meiji shrine and became the basis for the Occupation policy of Allied General Headquarters (GHQ) regarding the shrine and Shinto. The second stage in the process of re-creation (1945–1952) aimed to transform and reposition the identity of Meiji shrine. Here the interre- lation between GHQ and those Japanese concerned with Shinto’s future was crucial.3 Negotiations between these groups resulted in a number of new measures, including GHQ’s Shinto Directive (15th December 1945), the Religious Corporations Ordinance (2nd February 1946), and the cre- ation of the Association of Shinto Shrines (Jinja honchō) (3rd February 1946). Furthermore, it was through these negotiations that the post-war 3 Sources for this stage are Jinja honchō, ed., Jinja honchō jūnenshi; Jinja shinpō, ed., Shintō shirei to sengo no Shintō, 3rd ed., rev.; Jinja shinpō, Seisaku kenkyūshitsu, ed., Kindai jinja shintōshi, 7th ed., rev. and enl.; Okada Yoneo, ed., Jingiin shūsen shimatsu; Shinshūren chōsashitsu, ed., Sengo shūkyō kaisō roku; GHQ/SCAP, “Shinto: Staff Study.”.

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