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Buddhism and Ideology in Japan, 1868-1931 UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Buddhism and Ideology in Japan, 1868-1931 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wk4f768 Author Lazopoulos, George Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Buddhism and Ideology in Japan, 1868-1931 By George Lazopoulos A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Andrew E. Barshay, Chair Professor Mary Elizabeth Berry Professor Alan Tansman Spring 2013 Buddhism and Ideology in Japan, 1868-1931 © 2013 by George Lazopoulos. All rights reserved. ABSTRACT Buddhism and Ideology in Japan, 1868-1931 by George Lazopoulos Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Andrew E. Barshay, Chair This dissertation is a critical history of Buddhist thought in Japan from 1868 to 1931. During this time, many intellectuals became fascinated with the Buddhism of Japan’s medieval period. Some saw it as a form of religious experience that could overcome the modern problem of alienated existence. Others declared that the cultural history of medieval Japanese Buddhism held the essence of Japanese cultural authenticity. These philosophical and historical interpretations of Buddhism together constituted a modern cultural discourse that I call Japanese Medievalism: a romantic vision of medieval Japan as a world of Buddhist spirituality. This dissertation traces the evolution of Japanese Medievalism, reconstructs its main arguments, and examines its ideological significance as a cultural artifact of modern Japan. Japanese Medievalism had an ambiguous ideological function. On the one hand, it was a religious revolt against the ideology of the ruling class – the ideology of the kami (the “native gods” of Japan), which renounced Buddhism as a foreign superstition inimical to national progress. Japanese Medievalism was an attempt to reassert the meaningfulness of Buddhism in defiance of state ideology. But on the other hand, Japanese Medievalism also supported the political order. By evoking a cultural realm of religious experience, Japanese Medievalism diverted attention from the concrete problems of industrial capitalism and anti-democratic politics in Japan. In sum, Japanese Medievalism was a Japanese analog to Existentialism in the West – a spiritual alternative to Marxism’s materialist critique of modern society that ultimately had politically conservative consequences. 1 With love and appreciation for my parents, Mike and Grace. You made it possible. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iv Introduction: Buddhism and Ideology in Japan, 1868-1931................................................1 Chapter One. The Meiji Enlightenment and the Crisis of Buddhism, 1867-1886...............7 1. The Genesis of Meiji Power ......................................................................................10 2. The Department of Divinity and Liturgical Ideology, 1868-1872.............................15 3. The Ministry of Doctrine and Doctrinal Ideology, Part I, 1871-1873.......................21 4 The Ministry of Doctrine and Doctrinal Ideology, Part II, 1873-1877.......................27 5. Tokyo University and Scientific Ideology, 1877-1886..............................................33 Chapter Two. Buddhist as Intellectual: Inoue Enryō in the Meiji Enlightenment.............42 1. Inoue Enryō in the Meiji Enlightenment ...................................................................43 2. Young Man Enryō: The Crisis in Atami....................................................................45 3. A Religion of Intellect and Feeling: chiryoku jōkan ryōzen......................................53 4. Philosophy Hall..........................................................................................................61 i. Seikyōsha ................................................................................................................63 ii. Higashi Honganji ..................................................................................................65 5. One Hundred Dreams of Atami .................................................................................67 6. Triumph of the Meiji Enlightenment .........................................................................69 Chapter Three. The Medieval Turn: Murakami Senshō and Kiyozawa Manshi ..............75 1. The Meiji Enlightenment in the Age of National Morality .......................................76 2. The Historicism of Murakami Senshō .......................................................................80 i. Murakami and Buddhist Theory.............................................................................81 ii. From Theory to History.........................................................................................83 iii. Clash with the Sect ...............................................................................................88 iv. The Fellowship of New Buddhists........................................................................90 3. The Vitalism of Kiyozawa Manshi............................................................................92 i. Philosophy of the Skeleton Period..........................................................................93 ii. The Inward Turn....................................................................................................95 iii. The Shirakawa Reform Society............................................................................98 iv. Spiritism and the Kōkōdō .....................................................................................99 4. Conclusion: The Discovery of Japanese Medievalism ............................................104 ii Chapter Four. Japanese Medievalism in Taishō and Early Shōwa Thought ...................106 1. After Enlightenment: The Taishō Crisis..................................................................107 2. The Zen Turn: Suzuki Daisetsu and Nishida Kitarō................................................111 i. The Iron Hammer of Self-Improvement: Suzuki Daisetsu...................................112 ii. Philosophy Should Be for Life: Nishida Kitarō ..................................................119 3. Fantasies of the Medieval: Hara Katsurō and Kurata Hyakuzō...............................128 i. Religion of War: Hara Katsurō.............................................................................128 ii. Religion of Love: Kurata Hyakuzō......................................................................132 4. Buddhism Resurrected: Watsuji Tetsurō .................................................................137 Conclusion: Medievalism vs. Marxism ...........................................................................148 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................151 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I spent more time working in reclusion over the past ten years than I care to remember. But in no sense did I accomplish anything on my own. I was lucky enough to have advisors, fellow graduate students, friends, and family whose support has carried me to the end. I credit my successes to them, and claim any shortcomings as my own. At the top of the list are the members of my doctoral committee. I am deeply indebted to Professor Andrew Barshay, who guided me through the labyrinthine complexities of intellectual history, both in the East Asian and Western traditions. I am especially grateful for the enthusiasm and confidence he had in the intellectual vision I have attempted to execute in this dissertation. Professor Mary Elizabeth Berry constantly challenged me to refine my often circuitous arguments and opaque prose. She impressed upon me that, although the main action of my story takes place in the rarefied world of ideas, it must always remain rooted in the terra firma of history. Professor Alan Tansman helped me think through many of the finer points of my argument with his penetrating insights and razor-sharp pen. For his generosity of time, his attentiveness to my work, and his sanity-saving humor, I cannot thank him enough. While at Berkeley, I also had the good fortune to study with Professors Richard Cándida-Smith, Mack Horton, Tyler Stovall, Martin Jay, Irwin Scheiner, and Thomas Brady. And it is no exaggeration to say that I would have been utterly lost without the History Department’s graduate advisors Mabel Lee and Barbara Hayashida. My graduate studies twice took me to Japan. I spent the 2005-2006 academic year at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Studies in Yokohama. The IUC is an indispensable resource for scholars of Japan, and I am extremely grateful to its teaching staff for their patience and dedication. Professor Shimazono Susumu was my advisor during my eighteen-month affiliation at the Department of Religious Studies at Tokyo University in 2009 and 2010. His intimate knowledge of the thinkers treated in this study was essential to my research, and his kindness and humor made my time at Todai enjoyable. In addition to my formal academic supervisors, I had the benefit of an ever- expanding circle of friends on both sides of the Pacific. Intellectual colleagues, drinking buddies,
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