Paper short abstract:

Examination of two 2010 Japanese Supreme Court cases regarding separation of religion from state reveals that government officials routinely use public resources to support Shinto ceremonies.

Paper long abstract:

The 1977 Supreme Court verdict in Tsu City Grounds Purification case (discussed by Mark Mullins) introduced an important distinction between religious and customary ceremonies that allows local governments to use public funds to conduct Shinto ceremonies. The Tsu City case was particularly significant in opening a postwar role for Shinto ritual and in rekindling images of Shinto as fundamentally different from religion.

This paper examines two subsequent Supreme Court verdicts from 2010 that, like the Tsu City case, bear on separation of religion from state (article 20) and article 89, which bans public expenditures for religious ceremonies, one from Sunagawa City (Hokkaidō Prefecture) and the second from Hakusan City (Ishikawa Prefecture). The first arose when a Christian in Sunagawa City brought suit against the city for allowing a shrine to exist on public land without requiring it to pay rent. The city owned land where a meeting hall had been built with public funds, and a small shrine called the Sorachita Jinja had been moved into the building. The suit charged that this situation constituted a violation of article 89. The second case arose after the mayor of Hakusan City attended a party held by the supporters’ group (Hōsankai) of Hakusan Hime Shrine, which was celebrating its 2100th Annual Festival. The party was not held at the shrine, nor did it involve Shinto ceremonies. Because the mayor used his official car and took his official secretary to the party, the suit charged the mayor with violating article 89.

Evidence presented in these two cases revealed a high level of involvement by public officials in shrine affairs and the complexities of popular attitudes towards shrines. The contradictory verdicts in the two cases suggest that Japanese legal thinking remains fluid and unresolved in dealing with the consequences of the Tsu City case, and in clarifying the status of Shinto with respect to constitutional provisions regarding religion.