Shintô und die Konzeption des japanischen Nationalwesens kokutai : : Der religiöse Traditionalismus in Neuzeit und Moderne Japans / / Klaus Antoni.

• Superior document: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 5 Japan ; 8
• VerfasserIn: Antoni, Klaus,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden; , Boston : : BRILL,, 1998.
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Series: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 5 Japan ; 8.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (438 pages)
• Other title: Der religiöse Traditionalismus in Neuzeit und Moderne Japans
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 9789004488496; 9789004103160
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Klaus Antoni.

The subject of this volume is the historical development of shintô and national thought in premodern and modern Japan. After examining the first instances of shintô-confucian syncretism in the early Edo period, the author investigates the function of shintô as a religious system to legitimize political power and explores how during the late Edo period this culminates in the concept of a specific Japanese national polity ( kokutai ). Though the main caesurae in the process of modern Japanese history (e.g. Meiji restoration and the end of the Pacific War in 1945) play a dominant role in this context, the author points out that the main historical, religious and ideological continuities are of much greater importance; The ideas and concepts elaborated by shintô thinkers during the Edo period became reality in modern Japan.