Two Processes Which Were Concerned with Making Boundaries around Shinto Sects

Abstract

The formation of sectarian Shinto in the Meiji era was promoted primarily by religious policies of the Meiji government. However, the formation of each sect was realized based on various religious ideas and thoughts, rituals, practices and organizing principles transmitted in Japan up to that point.

I have previously suggested that the forms of organization within sectarian Shinto can be categorized into two models, namely, the takatsuki (“offering-stand”) model, and the “tree” model. In this paper I place primary focus on the takatsuki model. In analyzing the boundaries between sects of this type, I introduce recent research in neuroscience and cognitive science to consider the effect of cognition transmitted genetically and culturally on the inner-outer division of the organization, focusing on the class of group leaders and core members.

Influential cognitive frames relating to culturally transmitted elements include differences between Shinto or Buddhism, whether the teachings are original to Japan or not, judgments as to whether the religion was viewed as suitable for a cultivated society or not, and others influenced by Japan's cultural inheritance. At the same time, I suggest that unconscious, genetically inherited cognitive processes also worked to fortify the unity of believers. While referring to the findings of research in neuroscience and cognitive science which have had influence on the humanities since the late twentieth century, I also analyze the dynamism of fusion and exclusion characterizing sect Shinto of the takatsuki model.