著者

蔵田 雅彦 Masahiko Kurata

雑誌

国際文化論集 = INTERCULTURAL STUDIES (ISSN:09170219)

巻号頁・発行日

no.2, pp.27-65, 1990-08-30

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Prompted largely by the illness and subsequent death of the Showa Emperor, discussions have recently been flourishing in academic circles concerning the nature of the Emperor System. While researchers of Japanese medieval history and anthropologists have attempted to present a new paradigm for study of the Emperor System, the author of this article attempts to present another perspective: that of the victims of Japanese colonial rule in Asia. The author takes the view that the Emperor System provided the ideological backbone for Japanese colonial rule in Asia, and more particularly in Korea. In order to show the irreconcilable nature of the conflict between the Emperor System and Korean Christianity, Christianity in Japan and Korea are contrasted in terms of their attitudes to the Emperor System. The characteristics of the Emperor System are summarised in terms of its ultra-nationalistic nature, its aggressive militarist nature, and its religiosity. Korean Christianity could not but come into conflict with such a system of values because of its nationalistic tradition, its inherently pacifist nature, and its conservative, or often fundamentalist type of faith. In order to understand the background of Japanese colonial rule, it is necessary in the first place to look into the process of formation of the modern Emperor System and State Shintoism following the Meiji Restoration. Here it is important to note that State Shintoism was considered as transcending ordinary religions, that is, denominational Shintoism, Buddhism and Christianity. Equally important is the fact that the freedom of religion stipulated in the Meiji Constitution was granted only within the framework of the Emperor System. It is no coincidence that Ito Hirobumi, who drafted the Meiji Constitution, became the first Resident-General in Korea and advocated the separation of religion and politics in order to prevent the missionaries from intervening in nationalist politics. Japanese churches were by and large integrated into the Emperor System and in order to avoid conflict with it they either fell into syncretism, accommodating Emperor worship and Shintoism in the form of Japanised Christianity, or concentrated on purely theological matters. Japanese Christians who were persecuted, especially during the war period, were mainly individual Christians or those who belonged to small sects or denominations with strong fundamentalist and eschatological faith. Since Japanese colonial rule in Korea functioned essentially as an extension of the Emperor System, the religious policy of the Government General in Korea needs to be analysed in such a context. Furthermore, the characteristics of Korean Christianity in terms of its faith and theology need to be evaluated in the light of its conflict with the ideological overtones of the externally-imposed Emperor System. In brief, Korean Christianity came into conflict with the Emperor System mainly on three grounds. Firstly, its nationalistic character came into conflict with the Emperor System's ultra-nationalism supported by State Shintoism. Secondly, the conservative and often fundamentalist nature of Korean Christians' faith could not but clash with the equally fundamentalist and uncompromising system of religious values of the Emperor System. Thirdly, Christians' love of peace contradicted with the aggressive policy of the Emperor System which rationalised colonial aggression and the war of aggression in the name of maintaining peace in Asia. Thus, a comparative study of Christians' conflict with the Emperor System both in Japan and colonial Korea reveals the fundamentalist nature of the Emperor System's ideology, which was nevertheless sharply challenged by the equally fundamentalist faith combined with an eschatological and nationalistic vision held by Korean Christians.