2016 Volume 90 Issue 3 Pages 1-26
Why, in the contemporary Japanese governmental structure, is the Religious Affairs Division located within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology? To answer this question the present article explores the historical development of the arguments used by the Ministry of Education to justify it exercising jurisdiction over religions.
The article first examines developments in the second decade of the Meiji era, when conflict arose between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Education regarding jurisdiction over religious schools. This dispute was resolved provisionally through a political decision by the chief government minister, the Daijōdaijin. The article next focuses on the third decade of the Meiji era, when the issue came up again in the midst of social and diplomatic change. At this time the Ministry of Education developed arguments in support of it exercising jurisdiction over not only religious schools but also religious organizations.
The final section of the article examines more closely the distinctive features of the Ministry of Education's arguments. In contrast to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which saw the administration of religious matters as an extension of the administration of temples and shrines, the Ministry of Education argued that religious matters should fall within the same category as the administration of matters concerning art, schools, and education.
