十Christian Japan
Theme

Church and State, 1873 to 1946

From the removal of the notice boards in 1873 to the Shinto Directive of 1945: how Japan's Christians lived under the Meiji constitution, the shrine question and wartime control.

12 pages

Start here

Start with these pages, then explore any part below.

  1. 1The Ban Lifted, 1873On February 24, 1873, the Meiji government quietly ordered the notice boards banning Christianity taken down…
  2. 2The Meiji Constitution and Article 28 (1889)On February 11, 1889, the Constitution of the Empire of Japan gave Japanese subjects "freedom of religious…
  3. 3Sophia University and Yasukuni Shrine, 1932On May 5, 1932, two or three Catholic students of Sophia University, the Jesuit university in Tokyo, did not…
  4. 4The Shinto Directive, 1945, and the 1946 ConstitutionOn December 15, 1945, the occupation ended state sponsorship of Shinto and put every religion "upon exactly…

Short history

Dajōkan Proclamation No. 68 of February 24, 1873, ordered the old wooden notice boards taken down, and among them were the boards forbidding Christianity12. The government never announced that Christians were free; it simply took down a sign1. Abroad, the Iwakura embassy had been sharply criticized wherever it went for the treatment of the Urakami Christians3. Article 28 of the Meiji Constitution of 1889 gave Japanese subjects freedom of religious belief only so far as its exercise did not disturb peace and order or conflict with their duties as subjects45. These qualifications later allowed the authorities to act against religious groups45.

The pressure grew in the 1930s. On May 5, 1932, an army officer led about sixty Sophia University students to the war museum at Kudan and to the Yasukuni Shrine67, and two, perhaps three, Catholic students did not bow7. In 1934 the military and the press accused Catholic missionaries on Amami Ōshima of spying8. Propaganda Fide answered the question of the shrine ceremonies in an instruction dated May 26, 1936, Pluries instanterque9. The Religious Organizations Law was promulgated on April 8, 193910, and in May 1941 the Church was recognized anew as a single religious body, the Nihon Tenshu Kōkyō Kyōdan, under Archbishop Doi Tatsuo of Tokyo1112. On December 15, 1945, General Headquarters issued SCAPIN-448, the Shinto Directive13.

01

The end of the ban

3 pages
EventThe Ban Lifted, 1873On February 24, 1873, the Meiji government quietly ordered the notice boards banning Christianity taken…EventThe Iwakura Mission and Urakami (1871 to 1873)In December 1871 Japan's new government sent most of its leaders abroad.LifeŌkubo Toshimichi and the Urakami questionŌkubo Toshimichi (1830 to 1878), the Satsuma statesman who more than anyone built the early Meiji state…
02

The Meiji order

3 pages
EventThe Meiji Constitution and Article 28 (1889)On February 11, 1889, the Constitution of the Empire of Japan gave Japanese subjects "freedom of…ThemeJapanese Attitudes to Christianity: From Forbidden Law to Respected StrangerOver four centuries Japanese rulers, scholars and ordinary people have seen Christianity as a foreign…ThemeProtestant Missions in Japan: From the Treaty Ports to National ChurchesProtestant missionaries reached Japan's treaty ports in 1859, while the old ban on Christianity still…
03

The shrine question and wartime control

4 pages
EventAmami Ōshima: the anti-Catholic campaign of the 1930sAmami Ōshima, between Kyushu and Okinawa, received the Catholic faith from the Paris Foreign Missions…EventSophia University and Yasukuni Shrine, 1932On May 5, 1932, two or three Catholic students of Sophia University, the Jesuit university in Tokyo, did…EventPluries instanterque (1936): the Church's ruling on the shrine ceremoniesBy the 1930s Japanese Catholics faced a hard question again and again: when the law or custom of the…EventThe Religious Organizations Law of 1939 and the Catholic ChurchFor forty years the Japanese state tried to bring the religions under one law.
04

After 1945

2 pages
EventThe Shinto Directive, 1945, and the 1946 ConstitutionOn December 15, 1945, the occupation ended state sponsorship of Shinto and put every religion "upon…ThemeThe Catholic Church in Japan todayA small Church of about 413,000 people, ageing, increasingly international, strongest by far in…
Sources

Footnotes

  1. 1 National Archives of Japan, "日本のあゆみ," 明治6年（1873）2月 "キリスト教禁止の高札が撤廃される." https://www.archives.go.jp/ayumi/kobetsu/m06_1873_02.html (checked October 19, 2026) (from articles/ban-lifted-1873, note 5)
  2. 2 Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Commentary Database, "高札撤去：信仰が自由な時代へ" (PDF) https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/common/001553820.pdf (checked October 19, 2026). The 1868 board it illustrates is in the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture. (from articles/ban-lifted-1873, note 1)
  3. 3 Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Commentary Database, "高札撤去：信仰が自由な時代へ" (PDF 001553820). https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/common/001553820.pdf (from articles/iwakura-mission, note 4)
  4. 4 Marnas 1897 vol. 2, p. 527 (from articles/meiji-constitution-1889, note 20)
  5. 5 Kasahara (ed.) 2001 A History of Japanese Religion, p. 477 (from articles/meiji-constitution-1889, note 21)
  6. 6 Sophia University, 上智大学創立100周年 history leaflet No. 40, 「靖国神社参拝事件」 (2023). https://piloti.sophia.ac.jp/assets/uploads/2023/02/13164544/websophia_040.pdf (read October 19, 2026) (from articles/yasukuni-sophia-1932, note 1)
  7. 7 George H. Minamiki SJ, "The Yasukuni Shrine Incident and the Chinese Rites Controversy," Catholic Historical Review 66/2 (1980), pp. 205 to 229, at pp. 209 to 217 and 225 to 227. (from articles/yasukuni-sophia-1932, note 2)
  8. 8 Mullins Handbook 2003, p. 86 (from articles/amami-1930s, note 4)
  9. 9 Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, instruction Pluries instanterque (May 26, 1936), Latin text with French translation, in Actes de S. S. Pie XI, vol. 14 (1936), Maison de la Bonne Presse, pp. 234 to 241 (citing AAS 28, 1936, p. 406). PDF: https://orbis.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/1936_Pluries_Instanterque_web.pdf. Our translation from the French. (from articles/pluries-instanterque-1936, note 1)
  10. 10 Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR), glossary "宗教団体法" (Shūkyō dantai hō). https://www.jacar.go.jp/exhibition/glossary/term1/0090-0010-0100-0040-0010.html Our translation. (from articles/religious-organizations-law-1939, note 1)
  11. 11 Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, Japan, "FMM日本管区の歩み 88". https://fmm.jp/?p=15779 (from articles/religious-organizations-law-1939, note 3)
  12. 12 AMOR (Catholic web magazine), "戦争と神父（３）志村辰弥著『教会秘話 太平洋戦争をめぐって』が伝えるもの", August 15, 2019. https://webmagazin-amor.jp/2019/08/15/tokushu34_3/ (from articles/religious-organizations-law-1939, note 4)
  13. 13 SCAPIN-448, "Abolition of Governmental Sponsorship, Support, Perpetuation, Control, and Dissemination of State Shinto," December 15, 1945, Nagoya University SCAPIN database. https://jahis.law.nagoya-u.ac.jp/scapindb/docs/scapin-448 (checked October 20, 2026) (from articles/shinto-directive-1945, note 2)

Image credits

  • No images on this page yet.