In 1613 Tokugawa Ieyasu had Konchiin Suden draft the Decree Banishing Christians. This decree, which stated that Christianity was to be prohibited because Japan is the land of buddhas and kami, has long been quoted by historians as evidence of the existence in that period of the view of Japan as a "divine land". Particularly, in recent years this decree has been cited as an expression of the ideology of the Tokugawa state promulgated domestically and abroad by Ieyasu himself. However, when examined more closely the text of the decree is not at all easy to understand. Some scholars, in fact, have described it as "gibberish," or "having no coherent logic to it". Though the individual words of the text may be clear, they seem to make little sense when put together into sentences. Especially the initial section, in which the author seemingly argues that Japan is the land of buddhas as well as kami, is incomprehensible without knowledge of the Shinto-Buddhist literature of the preceding period. By examining the language of the decree in the light of medieval Shinto writings, the present article demonstrates that it was written according to the theory of "kami as essence, buddha as trace" held by the Yoshida school. This theory is famous in the history of Shinto as the doctrine that the "three teachings [Confucianism, Buddhism and Shinto] are the branches, leaves, flowers, fruits and the root". This article further discusses the shinto view of Japan expressed in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 1591 letter to the viceroy of Goa, and shows that it, too, was based on the ideas of Yoshida Shinto. According to the belief of the Yoshida school, Mahavairocana (Dainichi Nyorai) appeared at the time of the origin of the universe and the creation of the Japanese islands as described in the Nihonshoki. The tenno was thus held to be the descendent of Dainichi, who is identical to a kami. The present article argues that Hideyoshi and Ieyasu likely shared this view of the tenno.

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It is well known that NEP brought about a shift in economic principles from administrative-command control of state industry to adjustments suited to the so-called "mixed economy"; in this process there emerged new organizational forms called trusts and syndicates. But little is known about the fact that the "soviet industrialists" formed a voluntary organization in order to express the special interests of industry to the authorities. In this paper the author aims to shed some light on the process by which the soviet industrialists formed a voluntary organization of their own and show their way of thinking about industrial management under state capitalism. After NEP was implemented the soviet industrialists who were directly responsible for state industry came to think that the function of state organs in industrial management should be limited to "regulation and planning". They were also inclined towards "releasing the trusts from the state" and assuming the real control of industry into their own hands. The industrialists became aware of the necessity of a standing organ that would support "the organized view of industry" vis-a-vis the state. Thus a "temporary bureau" of congresses of industry and transport was set up in August 1922, with the purpose of presenting to the state organs the special interests of industry and transport, especially of large-scale industry. An intense controversy was brought about over the standing "council of congresses", which would be set up by the coming conference of representatives of industry. It reflected twofold differences: one between the state organs and the trusts which sought direct control of industrial management, and the other between the trusts and the syndicates that wished a strengthened supervision over the trusts. The conference of representatives of Large-scale industry and transport held in December 1922 ended this controversy, resulting in a compromise between the "state principle" and the "corporate principle" in industrial management. "The council of congresses" was set up under the presidium of the Supreme Council of National Economy as a voluntary organization of the industrialists. The establishment of "the council" meant the recognition of the special interest of industry apart from the state. The industrialists thus secured a means to express the "organized interest of industry" to the state. At the same time they were exposed to strong restrictions, so that "the organized interest of industry" could be realized only with the approval of the Supreme Council of National Economy.

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Several manuscripts of the Engishiki 延喜式 contain an item dated 811 from the Rekiunki 歴運記 telling us the number of person who were appointed to the aristocratic positions of Daijin (大臣), Dainagon 大納言, Chunagon 中納言 and Sangi 参議. It is clear, however, that these numbers were not as of 811. In the present paper, the author, through textual criticism of the Rekiunki, shows that these numbers were taken from thirty volumes of soan 曹案 from the reign of Junnin, meaning that the 59 Sangi listed, as well as the other bureaucratic posts, were actually as of 757. This evidence shows that there was a much larger number of Sangi appointed during the first half of the eighth century than previously known and that this number was deleted from the Shoku Nihongi 続日本紀 for some reason or other. In any case, any further research on the position of Sangi will have to take this fact into consideration. In addition, it has already been pointed out in the research literature that the original Rekiunki was the general summary portion at the beginning of the complete version of the Rekiunki and that the original Rekiunki was the basis for aristocratic appointments prior to 810. From the results of the present paper, we can also assume that there was some kind of "original Rekiunki", perhaps ordered by Fujiwara-no-Nakamaro, for the reign of Junnin as well. Perhaps this compilation was lost or destroyed after Nakamaro's rebellion, and later Rekiunki biographies of aristocrats were privately compiled based on what remained of the original. Whatever the case, we should be able to discover the origins of pre-810 aristocratic appointments in the first Rekiunki of Nakamaro.

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[in Japanese]

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