Ethnology of Religion and the Total War System

Abstract

In Japan, the academic field of shūkyō minzokugaku (ethnology of religion) was established as an independent discipline in the 1920's. The ethnology of religion began as a comparative study of primitive religions and sub-sequently developed into the study of the religions associated with various ethnic groups, which led to war collaboration as colonization progressed. The concept of “Ethnos” or “Volk” (minzoku) was reinterpreted in various ways as modernization moved on, embracing ideological overtones, and exalting nationalism. Under the total war system, the term “spirit” or “mind” (seishin) changed in association with ethnic group or nation, giving rise to compound terms such as “national spirit,” “ethnic spirit,” and “Japanese spirit.” Even the term “ethnology of religion” was constructed in connections with the word minzoku shūkyō (“ethnic religion”), but it kept its own semantic connotations with “spirit” or “mind.” In religious studies, “ethnic religion” is a type of religion that is contrasted with “world religion” but, in the case of “Japanese ethnic religion,” the expression has come to be associated with the “inherent Japanese religion.” Descriptions of contemporary Shintō, for example, often explain that Shintō is an ethnic religion inherent to Japan. This paper explores various aspects of continuity and discontinuity in the scholarship by examining the prewar and postwar discourses on ethnology of religion.