Shintô Und Die Konzeption Des Japanischen Nationalwesens Kokutai: Der Religiöse Traditionalismus in Neuzeit Und Moderne Japans: Der Religiose ... 8 (Handbook of Oriental Studies , No 8) - Hardcover

The subject of this volume is the historical development of shinto and national thought in premodern and modern Japan. After examining the first instances of shinto-confucian syncretism in the early Edo period, the author investigates the function of shinto as a religious system to legitimize political power and explores how during the late Edo period this culminates in the concept of a specific Japanese national polity(kokutai). Though the main caesurae in the process of modern Japanese history (e.g. Meiji restoration and the end of the Pacific War in 1945) play a dominant role in this context, the author points out that the main historical, religious and ideological continuities are of much greater importance; The ideas and concepts elaborated by shinto thinkers during the Edo period became reality in modern Japan.

Klaus Antoni, born 1953, is Professor of Japanese Studies in Trier with main interest in the history of Japanese religions and ideas. He published a series of works especially on the relationship of shinto and Japanese national thought.