Tenno? It is actually strange to call Tenno in Japanese the Emperor since his role was unlike the classic Chinese emperors. However, as the common translation for Tenno has been the Emperor, I would like to use Tenno as traditional role in Japan and the Emperor as a ruler.
Looking back at the long history of Japan, the role of Tenno and the position of Tenno has changed over the period of time. There were interesting stories of the drastic change of ideological background of Shinto under the influence of various religions introduced from the Korean Peninsula, which will be discussed in the later chapters. However, in many ways, Shinto and Tenno have been strongly linked together and it is impossible to understand what Shinto is without understanding the history of Tenno, which is written in two oldest existing literatures “Nihon-Sho-Ki” and “Koji-Ki” in Japan.
A lot of Japanese people are not aware of the importance of understanding the relationship of Tenno and Shinto these days because of the influence of the Japanese media, but it is important to note that the national identity of Japan and Shinto are always linked together. I cannot help thinking the Japanese people were fortunate that the Supreme Commander, Douglas MacArthur, and the members of GHQ and those who contributed to the project of reforming Japanese education had a much better understanding of the national identity of Japan when they tried to free the Japanese people from the slave like condition they lived under during the Pacific War. The lamentable fact is that almost all the Japanese people are not taught this fact.
And, now, starting with the University of Tokyo, there have been many “false, so-called researches” that most researchers have been spreading all over the world regarding the ideological background of Shinto. Kokugakuin University and Kogakkan University, which are the two main universities to educate those who want to be qualified Shinto Priests, contribute to sending out the same kind of researchers. These “false researches” were originated by Dr. Shinobu Origuchi (1887-1953), the former professor of Keio University. He received his doctorate degree at Kokugakuin University in Tokyo.
Shinobu Origuchi Cult
Dr. Shinobu Origuchi was famous for the authority of Japanese Shinto ideology but he himself was rather interested in cultic religions. Therefore, it is possible to imagine that it was quite interesting for him to construe Shinto in his own way and to make Shinto a completely different religion from the fact intentionally. I cannot help assuming that he enjoyed acting like the founder of a new religion, a new Shinto. At the same time, he claimed to be a homosexual throughout his life and had one of his disciples close to him all the time. He claimed that there was a homosexual tradition throughout Japanese history and it was not shameful to be homosexual. I will explain his homosexualism later. The most shameful fact is that, as a researcher of Shinto, he completely lacked the proper attitude to objectively analyze Shinto.
This devious Origuchi Doctrine has been widely accepted by religious researchers in major universities for a long time. Those researchers accept the Origuchi Doctrine as the major doctrine and accept it as the very essence of Shinto. In my personal opinion, Origuchi promoted the idea of making Tenno a dictator, whom young Japanese military officers whose homes were severely hit by the Great Depression (1929) wanted to have. Origuchi sensed what they wanted and clung on to the dictator liker Hitler, who succeeded in the economic recovery in Germany.
Origuchi altered the image of the role of the Emperor into that of the Hitler Regime, and might have tried establishing fame as a researcher. He might have been positive that his theory would answer to the expectation of the young Japanese military officers who wanted to have good reason for having a dictator. For them, the leader superior to the Hitler’s Regime was ideal. That was the reason why they wanted to create the image of diety-like dictator. Origuchi is said to have become the symbol of the regime’s requirement of the era.
In this context, he published his famous “Tama theory” in his book titled, “Daijo-Sai no Honngi (1930): the Essence of Succession Ceremony.” I wonder if you could understand what the Regime at that time wanted to invent, “which proves Japan is superior to the European World.” This was the beginning of the eccentric period of Japan.
Origuchi insisted as follows;
“Tama” is the tremendously great sacred power given by “Amaterasu-Oh-Mi-Kami, the highest female deity of the whole Universe.” The deity, Amaterasu, presented Jinmu Tenno, the first Emperor, with “Tama.” The Tama got into the first Tenno’s flesh. Since then, “Tama” was transplanted into the successive emperors every time each Tenno took over the throne.” Therefore, since the first Tenno, Tenno themselves have had Amaterasu’s entity.
His theory implied, “the Japanese have to worship the Emperor himself as a “living” deity. For the purpose of inventing this new Shinto and the image of the Emperor, he intentionally ignored essential facts of traditional Shinto. He MADE Tenno the Emperor with the power of Amaterasu. Showa Tenno never admitted this.
Dr. Shinobu Origuchi came up with his peculiar theory of Shinto, which was based on folklorists and anthropologists in order to interpret Shinto. His framework, for example, was greatly influenced by the idea of Kunio Yanagida (1875-1962), the folklorist and anthropologist, who was an official of the Agricultural Ministry.
Dr. Shinobu Origuchi has become the founder of a kind of a religious “cult,” and there are fanatical followers of his doctrine all over Japan. Professors of so-called leading universities promote his false ideas of Shinto and the Tenno system. They teach Dr. Origuchi’s doctrine as the very true doctrine without question.
There are only a limited number of researchers, who strongly stand against the doctrine fabricated by Dr. Shinobu Origuchi. His doctrine was based on his “guesses,” “assumptions” and the application of Western folklorical method which I will introduce in a later chapter in this book.
Japanese Media’s Resistance against Douglas MacArthur
One clear thing that the Japanese media has missed out is that Supreme Commander, Douglas MacArthur himself was quite sympathetic toward the situation of ordinary Japanese people. A majority of the people, especially those who were children during the war era, were not taught what Douglas MacArthur did. They were not eligible to read fieldworks done by the United States at that time because they could not read English. Supreme Commander, Douglas MacArthur had strong mission in his mind that he had to free Japanese people from the situation they lived under during the Pacific War.
Unlike Germany after World War I, the United States did not impose war reparations on Japan. If war reparations had been imposed on Japan by the United States, Japan would have gone bankrupt. At first, soon after the Pacific War, the Japanese Public understood what Americans were like. So, they, especially children, welcomed and appreciated MacArthur’s goodwill toward Japan.
However, activists, who admired Soviet Russia, Communist China and North Korea, such as professors, students in the major universities, and journalists in Japanese mass media came to resist MacArthur’s policy. In spite of the sympathy of the U.S. Government toward “ordinary people in Japan,” the major Japanese media had no respect for Douglas MacArthur’s policies and had no clear sense of crimes they commit during and after the Pacific War.
On the other hand, I am quite impressed by the remarks made by Supreme Commander, Douglas MacArthur. I would like to quote his lines, “We stand in Tokyo today reminiscent of our countryman, Commodore Perry, ninety-two years ago. His purpose was to bring Japan an era of enlightenment and progress, by lifting the veil of isolation to the friendship, trade, and commerce of the world.” The spirit of mutual benefit and building and promoting good relationship between the United States and Japan was not forgotten by the Pacific War. It also means that the measures taken by GHQ under Supreme Commander, Douglas MacArthur, were based on his goodwill. He himself had strong pride based on morality as a military man and at the same time he never forgot the history of friendly relationship between the United States and Japan which had been built since1853 before the Meiji Restoration.
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