Haibutsu kishaku

(literally "abolishing Buddhism and destroying Shākyamuni") is a term that indicates a continuous current of thought in Japan's history which advocates the expulsion of Buddhism from Japan [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=1354 Encyclopedia of Shinto - Haibutsu Kishaku] accessed on March 15, 2008] . More narrowly, it also indicates a particular historic movement and specific historic events based on that ideology which, during the Meiji period, produced the destruction of Buddhist temples, images and texts, and the forced return to secular life of Buddhist monks.

"Haibutsu kishaku" in history

An early example of "haibutsu kishaku" is the Mononobe clan's anti-Buddhist policies during the Yamato period (250–710). The Mononobe were opposed to the spread of Buddhism not on religious grounds, but rather because of nationalism and xenophobia. The Nakatomi clan, ancestors of the Fujiwara, were allies of the Mononobe in their opposition to Buddhism.

Another example is the policies of temple closure and monk defrocking of the Okayama, Aizu, and Mito Domains, also adopted for political and economic, rather than religious, reasons during the early modern period. These domainal policies were in general based on Confucian anti-Buddhist thought. The Meiji period form of "haibutsu kishaku", based on kokugaku and Shinto-centrism, was instead dictated by a desire to distinguish between foreign Buddhism and a purely Japanese Shinto.

The Meiji era's "haibutsu kishaku"

The "haibutsu kishaku" during the Meiji Restoration, the most famous instance of the phenomenon, was an event triggered by the official policy of separation of Shinto and Buddhism (or "shinbutsu bunri") that after 1868 caused great damage to Buddhism in Japan. The destruction of Buddhist property took place on a large scale all over the country. For example, the five-storied and the three-storied pagodas of Kōfuku-ji in Nara were destroyed and sold as wood (the first brought in just the equivalent of 200 thousand yen) Haibutsu Kishaku, Japanese Wikipedia, accessed on March 15, 2008] . The temple, which is now a National Treasure, was hit with full force by the movement. All sub-temples were abolished, the temple's land was seized, the priests forced to become Shinto priests, walls were torn down, trees were planted, and the area became part of one of the city's parks [Kōfuku-ji, Japanese Wikipedia, accessed on March 15, 2008] . The anti-Buddhist riots caused damage to all large temples of the city [ [http://www.city.nara.nara.jp/b_hp/english/kokon/rekishi/index.htm Nara City Home Page, History of Nara] accessed on March 15, 2008] . Some, like the Uchiyama Eikyū-ji, were completely destroyed, leaving behind no trace. In the traditionally Confucian Satsuma Domain alone 1616 temples were closed, and 2966 priests were forcibly defrocked.

The violence released pent-up popular anger at the Buddhists that had been brewing for a couple of centuries because of their close alliance with the Tokugawa in the "danka" system [ [http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2006/kyoto/bg_foundation.pdf Releasing the Spirit of Kyoto: Historical Background] accessed on March 15, 2008] , an alliance from which the religion had derived immense benefit. Although the shogunate's official philosophy was lay Neo-Confucianism [http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/neoconfucianism.html Ronald Loftus, Willamette University - Neoconfucianism] , accessed on March 15, 2008] , Buddhism had become an integral part of the state as a consequence of the Tokugawa's anti-Christian policy. To stop the propagation of the Christian religion, they had introduced the "danka" system, which obliged families to affiliate themselves with a Buddhist temple [http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/itinerario/bookreviews-16.html Review of "Nam-Lin Hur, Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan: Buddhism, Anti-Christianity, and the Danka System"] accessed on March 15, 2008] and, in return, this would certify that they were not Christian. Without this certification a normal life in Tokugawa Japan was impossible. Because of this, temples could and often would blackmail parishioners [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/publications/pdfs/Hur%20intro.pdf Nam-Lin Hur - The Rise of Funerary Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan] ] .

During the Tokugawa period, under the so-called "danka" system families had by law several obligations towards Buddhist institutions, among them monetary donations to their temple of affiliation. Because there were some 100,000 temples in a country of 30 million people, on average 300 persons had to support a temple, so the burden was considerable.

Another factor that explains the violence is that Buddhism was so deeply involved with the shoguns that it had become one of its symbols, and therefore an enemy of all the parties who wanted the shogunate's fall.

There were definite political and economic motivations too, in that the domainal governments wanted to restore public finances at Buddhists's expense, and the "shinbutsu bunri" offered a pretext to appropriate Buddhist lands.

An estimate of how many temples were closed during the turmoil is difficult, because it seems likely that many disappeared simply because Buddhist authorities, taking advantage of the fall of the Tokugawa, were trying to streamline the system and eliminate redundancies [http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/732.pdf Jason Ānanda Josephson, When Buddhism Became a “Religion”,　Japanese Journal of Religious Studies] ] . Under the shogunate, obtaining the permission to open or close a temple had not been easy. However, the complete disappearance of Buddhist temples from domains like Satsuma was indeed due to the "haibutsu kishaku".

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