| relig. |
Shrine Office, or Bureau of Shrine Affairs. Established in 1900 in the Naimusho (Home Ministry), the Jinja Kyoku provided for the central administration of shrines and priests throughout the country. A Bureau of Religions (Shukyo-Kyoku) in the Ministry of Education was established at the same time to oversee "religions'. By this time the official view that Shinto was not a shukyo, a religion, was well developed. The two new bureaux replaced the shajikyoku which had covered both Shinto and Buddhism since the abolition of the Ministry of Religion (Kyobusho) in 1877. Although as a sub-department of the Home Ministry (Naimusho) the Jinjakyoku fell far short of the Shinto priesthood's early Meiji ideal of a restored Ritsuryo -style Jingi-kan it did symbolise at a high level the separation of Shinto as a civic duty from other "religions" in Japan. Its activities were expanded in 1940 through the establishment of the Jingi-in Some claim that the establishment of the jinja-kyoku, rather than earlier Meiji developments, marked the beginning of 'state shinto" (kokka shinto) A Popular Dictionary of Shinto (Brian Bocking) |
