Japan - Revision history

Lajos: /* Seno'o Girō and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism */

2026-10-27T01:05:01Z

Seno'o Girō and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:05, 27 October 2026
Line 53:		Line 53:

	=== Seno'o Girō and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism ===		=== Seno'o Girō and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism ===
	{{Main\|~~Seno'o~~ Giro}}		{{Main\|Senoo Giro}}
	{{Main\|Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism}}		{{Main\|Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism}}

Lajos: /* Uchiyama Gudō */

2026-10-02T01:06:14Z

Uchiyama Gudō

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:06, 2 October 2026
Line 40:		Line 40:

	=== Uchiyama Gudō ===		=== Uchiyama Gudō ===
	{{Main\|Uchiyama ~~Gudō~~}}		{{Main\|Uchiyama Gudo}}

	Uchiyama Gudō 内山愚童 (1874–1911), a Sōtō Zen priest and abbot of Rinsenji 林泉寺 near Hakone, developed one of the most explicitly anarchist forms of radical Buddhism in Meiji Japan. Explaining his embrace of socialism, Uchiyama recalled that as a Buddhist missionary he taught that all beings possess buddha-nature, that within the Dharma there is equality without high or low, and that all beings are children of the Buddha; he came to see these teachings as fundamentally compatible with socialism. His radicalism joined this Buddhist egalitarianism to a critique of private property, economic inequality, imperial authority, and militarism. Unlike Takagi Kenmyō, whose Buddhist socialism remained largely reformist, Uchiyama increasingly identified the social and political structures producing inequality as themselves objects of transformation. Using a clandestine printing press at Rinsenji, he produced and circulated socialist and anarchist writings calling upon ordinary people to free themselves from the political, economic, and religious beliefs sustaining the existing social order.<ref>Shields, James Mark (2017), ''Against Harmony: Progressive and Radical Buddhism in Modern Japan'' (Oxford University Press), 153–62; Sanada Yoshiaki 眞田芳憲 (2016), “Taigyaku jiken to zensō Uchiyama Gudō no ‘Bukkyō shakaishugi’ to sono kōdō no kiseki: Zensō Gudō no teikō no shūkyōteki rinri to sekinin” 大逆事件と禅僧内山愚童の「仏教社会主義」とその行動の軌跡――禅僧愚童の抵抗の宗教的倫理と責任 [The High Treason Incident and Zen Priest Uchiyama Gudō's “Buddhist Socialism” and the Course of His Activities: The Religious Ethics and Responsibility of Gudō's Resistance], ''Chūō Gakujutsu Kenkyūjo kiyō'' 中央学術研究所紀要 45: 2–61, 20–21.</ref>		Uchiyama Gudō 内山愚童 (1874–1911), a Sōtō Zen priest and abbot of Rinsenji 林泉寺 near Hakone, developed one of the most explicitly anarchist forms of radical Buddhism in Meiji Japan. Explaining his embrace of socialism, Uchiyama recalled that as a Buddhist missionary he taught that all beings possess buddha-nature, that within the Dharma there is equality without high or low, and that all beings are children of the Buddha; he came to see these teachings as fundamentally compatible with socialism. His radicalism joined this Buddhist egalitarianism to a critique of private property, economic inequality, imperial authority, and militarism. Unlike Takagi Kenmyō, whose Buddhist socialism remained largely reformist, Uchiyama increasingly identified the social and political structures producing inequality as themselves objects of transformation. Using a clandestine printing press at Rinsenji, he produced and circulated socialist and anarchist writings calling upon ordinary people to free themselves from the political, economic, and religious beliefs sustaining the existing social order.<ref>Shields, James Mark (2017), ''Against Harmony: Progressive and Radical Buddhism in Modern Japan'' (Oxford University Press), 153–62; Sanada Yoshiaki 眞田芳憲 (2016), “Taigyaku jiken to zensō Uchiyama Gudō no ‘Bukkyō shakaishugi’ to sono kōdō no kiseki: Zensō Gudō no teikō no shūkyōteki rinri to sekinin” 大逆事件と禅僧内山愚童の「仏教社会主義」とその行動の軌跡――禅僧愚童の抵抗の宗教的倫理と責任 [The High Treason Incident and Zen Priest Uchiyama Gudō's “Buddhist Socialism” and the Course of His Activities: The Religious Ethics and Responsibility of Gudō's Resistance], ''Chūō Gakujutsu Kenkyūjo kiyō'' 中央学術研究所紀要 45: 2–61, 20–21.</ref>

Lajos at 01:05, 2 October 2026

2026-10-02T01:05:57Z

Show changes

James at 16:08, 27 September 2026

2026-09-27T16:08:18Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:08, 27 September 2026
Line 28:		Line 28:

	== The New Buddhist Fellowship ==		== The New Buddhist Fellowship ==
	{{Main\|New ~~Buddhism~~}}		{{Main\|The New Buddhist Fellowship}}

	The most sustained collective expression of Meiji Buddhist modernism emerged in the Shin Bukkyō Dōshikai 新仏教同志会 (New Buddhist Fellowship), established in 1899 as the Bukkyō Seito Dōshikai 仏教清徒同志会 and renamed in 1903. Its members included Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋, Watanabe Kaikyoku 渡辺海旭, Takashima Beihō 高嶋米峰, Sugimura Sojinkan 杉村楚人冠, and Katō Genchi 加藤玄智, many of whom had studied with figures such as Murakami Senshō and Inoue Enryō. Through their journal, ''Shin Bukkyō'' 新仏教 (New Buddhism), they attacked “old Buddhism” (''kyū Bukkyō'' 旧仏教) as sectarian, ritualistic, superstitious, and institutionally corrupt. Their 1900 declaration called for a “sound Buddhist faith,” free investigation of Buddhism and other religions, the eradication of superstition, freedom from traditional religious institutions and ceremonies, opposition to state interference in religion, and the fundamental reform of society.<ref>“Sengen” 宣言 [Declaration], ''Shin Bukkyō'' 1, no. 1 (July 1900): 3; Shields, James Mark (2017), ''Against Harmony: Progressive and Radical Buddhism in Modern Japan'' (Oxford University Press), 91–100.</ref>		The most sustained collective expression of Meiji Buddhist modernism emerged in the Shin Bukkyō Dōshikai 新仏教同志会 (New Buddhist Fellowship), established in 1899 as the Bukkyō Seito Dōshikai 仏教清徒同志会 and renamed in 1903. Its members included Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋, Watanabe Kaikyoku 渡辺海旭, Takashima Beihō 高嶋米峰, Sugimura Sojinkan 杉村楚人冠, and Katō Genchi 加藤玄智, many of whom had studied with figures such as Murakami Senshō and Inoue Enryō. Through their journal, ''Shin Bukkyō'' 新仏教 (New Buddhism), they attacked “old Buddhism” (''kyū Bukkyō'' 旧仏教) as sectarian, ritualistic, superstitious, and institutionally corrupt. Their 1900 declaration called for a “sound Buddhist faith,” free investigation of Buddhism and other religions, the eradication of superstition, freedom from traditional religious institutions and ceremonies, opposition to state interference in religion, and the fundamental reform of society.<ref>“Sengen” 宣言 [Declaration], ''Shin Bukkyō'' 1, no. 1 (July 1900): 3; Shields, James Mark (2017), ''Against Harmony: Progressive and Radical Buddhism in Modern Japan'' (Oxford University Press), 91–100.</ref>

James: /* The Eastern Socialist Party (1882) */

2026-09-27T15:49:29Z

The Eastern Socialist Party (1882)

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:49, 27 September 2026
Line 19:		Line 19:
	Of more demonstrable importance to modern radicals were Edo-period narratives of the self-sacrificing “righteous person” (''gimin'' 義民), especially village representatives remembered for suffering or dying after petitioning authorities on behalf of oppressed peasants. The semi-legendary Sakura Sōgorō 佐倉惣五郎 (1605–1653) became an especially powerful exemplar, while Ōshio Heihachirō 大塩平八郎 (1793–1837), the Osaka samurai scholar and former official who led an 1837 rebellion during a period of severe famine, provided another model of principled resistance to corrupt authority.<ref>Shields (2016), “Peasant Revolts,” 7–9.</ref> Their significance lies less in direct institutional or doctrinal continuity than in later appropriation. Such figures supplied what Shields describes as “root paradigms” of self-sacrificing resistance through which modern activists could interpret new conflicts involving poverty, capitalism, state authority, and social injustice. Uchiyama Gudō 内山愚童, for example, explicitly invoked earlier traditions of peasant resistance while articulating a thoroughly modern Buddhist anarchism.<ref>Shields (2016), “Peasant Revolts,” 4–5, 11.</ref> These appropriations did not make the earlier rebels socialists or anarchists retrospectively; rather, they allowed modern radicals to understand their political commitments through indigenous historical resources as well as newly imported ideas.		Of more demonstrable importance to modern radicals were Edo-period narratives of the self-sacrificing “righteous person” (''gimin'' 義民), especially village representatives remembered for suffering or dying after petitioning authorities on behalf of oppressed peasants. The semi-legendary Sakura Sōgorō 佐倉惣五郎 (1605–1653) became an especially powerful exemplar, while Ōshio Heihachirō 大塩平八郎 (1793–1837), the Osaka samurai scholar and former official who led an 1837 rebellion during a period of severe famine, provided another model of principled resistance to corrupt authority.<ref>Shields (2016), “Peasant Revolts,” 7–9.</ref> Their significance lies less in direct institutional or doctrinal continuity than in later appropriation. Such figures supplied what Shields describes as “root paradigms” of self-sacrificing resistance through which modern activists could interpret new conflicts involving poverty, capitalism, state authority, and social injustice. Uchiyama Gudō 内山愚童, for example, explicitly invoked earlier traditions of peasant resistance while articulating a thoroughly modern Buddhist anarchism.<ref>Shields (2016), “Peasant Revolts,” 4–5, 11.</ref> These appropriations did not make the earlier rebels socialists or anarchists retrospectively; rather, they allowed modern radicals to understand their political commitments through indigenous historical resources as well as newly imported ideas.

	== The Eastern Socialist Party ~~(1882)~~ ==		== The Eastern Socialist Party ==

	One of the earliest attempts in modern Japan to articulate a socialist political program through Buddhist and other East Asian concepts was the short-lived Eastern Socialist Party (''Tōyō Shakaitō'' 東洋社会党), founded by Tarui Tōkichi 樽井藤吉 (1850–1922) in May 1882. Established amid the political ferment of the Freedom and People's Rights movement, the party was prohibited by the government the following month. Tarui nevertheless continued his efforts to revive it and circulated revised party regulations in January 1883, activity for which he was sentenced to a year in prison.<ref>Tanaka Sōgorō 田中惣五郎, ''Tōyō Shakaitō kō'' 東洋社会党考 [A Study of the Eastern Socialist Party] (Tokyo: Ichigensha, 1930); Komatsu Yutaka 小松裕, “Tarui Tōkichi to Tōyō Shakaitō” 樽井藤吉と東洋社会党 [Tarui Tōkichi and the Eastern Socialist Party], ''Ōsaka jiken kenkyū'' 大阪事件研究 5 (July 1986): 14–19; Shields, James Mark (2019), “Carrying Buddha into the Streets: Buddhist Socialist Thought in Modern Japan,” in Gereon Kopf, ed., ''The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy'', 255–85, 256–60.</ref>		One of the earliest attempts in modern Japan to articulate a socialist political program through Buddhist and other East Asian concepts was the short-lived Eastern Socialist Party (''Tōyō Shakaitō'' 東洋社会党), founded by Tarui Tōkichi 樽井藤吉 (1850–1922) in May 1882. Established amid the political ferment of the Freedom and People's Rights movement, the party was prohibited by the government the following month. Tarui nevertheless continued his efforts to revive it and circulated revised party regulations in January 1883, activity for which he was sentenced to a year in prison.<ref>Tanaka Sōgorō 田中惣五郎, ''Tōyō Shakaitō kō'' 東洋社会党考 [A Study of the Eastern Socialist Party] (Tokyo: Ichigensha, 1930); Komatsu Yutaka 小松裕, “Tarui Tōkichi to Tōyō Shakaitō” 樽井藤吉と東洋社会党 [Tarui Tōkichi and the Eastern Socialist Party], ''Ōsaka jiken kenkyū'' 大阪事件研究 5 (July 1986): 14–19; Shields, James Mark (2019), “Carrying Buddha into the Streets: Buddhist Socialist Thought in Modern Japan,” in Gereon Kopf, ed., ''The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy'', 255–85, 256–60.</ref>

James at 15:47, 27 September 2026

2026-09-27T15:47:41Z

Show changes

James at 15:44, 27 September 2026

2026-09-27T15:44:46Z

Show changes

James at 23:50, 25 September 2026

2026-09-25T23:50:56Z

Show changes

Lajos: /* How to Cite This Article */

2026-09-25T22:59:58Z

How to Cite This Article

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:59, 25 September 2026
Line 155:		Line 155:
	<!-- AUTHORSHIP CHANGE LOG		<!-- AUTHORSHIP CHANGE LOG
	First version, 4 August 2026. Main: Brons, Lajos. Other: (none).		First version, 4 August 2026. Main: Brons, Lajos. Other: (none).
	Substantially revised and expanded, September 2026. Main: ~~Brons, Lajos;~~ Shields, James Mark.		Substantially revised and expanded, September 2026. Main: Shields, James Mark. Other: Brons, Lajos;
	-->		-->
	~~Brons~~, ~~Lajos~~, and ~~James Mark Shields~~ ({{REVISIONYEAR}}). "Japan". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of {{#time: j F Y \| {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY}} }}. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/Japan</nowiki>.		Shields, James Mark, and Lajos Brons ({{REVISIONYEAR}}). "Japan". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of {{#time: j F Y \| {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY}} }}. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/Japan</nowiki>.

	== Notes ==		== Notes ==

James at 15:15, 25 September 2026

2026-09-25T15:15:59Z

Show changes