Paper short abstract:

This presentation focuses on the apologetic discourses of Gesshō (1817-1858) and Ryūon (1800-1885) in the context of Bakumatsu Japan. This paper aims to show how their ideas contained, at their core, the seeds of the modernization process which was to come after restoration days.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, several works have described how the transplantation of the so-called "western" concept of religion to Japan, which started during the Bakumatsu period, caused the intelligentsia to reconsider their identity in terms of both belief and practice. By then Buddhism was already, however, in the midst of (re)asserting its domain vis-à-vis other schools of thought such as Nativism and Kobunjigaku. Nevertheless, it is true that the renewed "threat" of Christianity brought about by the opening of a number of ports in the late 1850s did take this process of self-examination to a new level. This can be observed in the production of several treatises aimed at "defending the Dharma" (gohō 護法) against its enemies. In order to gain further insight into this critical moment of religious history, this presentation focuses on the discourses of Gesshō 月性 (1817-1858) and Ryūon 龍温 (1800-1885) in Bakumatsu Japan. Belonging, respectively, to the Nishi and Higashi denominations of Shinshū, these priests adopted somewhat different strategies for defending Buddhist institutions against the foreign peril. In 1853 Gesshō drafted Naikai Kiyū 内海杞憂, a petition to the lord of Chōshū domain in which he made five proposals aimed at defending the nation through Buddhism. These included, for instance, the fostering, both material and spiritual, of peasant militias, a suggestion that was later given shape by the anti-Bakufu alliance. Gesshō's Buppō Gokokuron 仏法護国論 was distributed to temples throughout the country, influencing a whole generation of priests that were about to take part in the events surrounding the Meiji Restoration. Ryūon, in turn, was an important scholar-priest of his day and, in his own manner, also impacted the ways young Buddhists related not only to Christianity but, in broader terms, to "western" knowledge itself. By 1863 he had proposed, for instance, that anti-Christian critiques should be based on a solid understanding of the Bible. This paper aims to show how the discourses put forward by these priests contained, at their core, the seeds of the modernization process which was to come after restoration days.