Sacred space in the modern city : the fractured pasts of Meiji shrine, 1912-1958 / / by Yoshiko Imaizumi.

• Author: Imaizumi, Yoshiko.
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: Brill's Japanese studies library, v. 43; Brill's Japanese Studies Library 43.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (345 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Sacred Space in the Modern City offers strikingly new and original perspectives on a number of controversial issues and important questions concerning Japanese pre- and post-war ideology and identity. Meiji shrine is not just ‘a’ shrine; it is ‘the’ shrine of twentieth-century Japan. This book is also noteworthy on account of its use of previously untouched archival materials as well as for its broad range of theoretical approaches applied within a multidisciplinary context. The author uses Meiji shrine as a lens with which to investigate the nature of the society that created, experienced and reproduced this site. This long-overdue study will be widely welcomed by researchers interested in Shinto and Meiji Japan, as well as the wider readership wishing to access the social history of Taisho and early Showa Japan.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 The Creation of Meiji Shrine 1912–1920 -- 2 A Mnemonic Space: The Construction of the Memorial Art Gallery 1912–1936 -- 3 Shrine Approaches: To the 1923 Earthquake and beyond -- 4 Imagined Discipline: The 1940 Meiji Shrine Sports Meet -- 5 The Re-Creation of Meiji Shrine 1945–1958 -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.