Paper short abstract:

This presentation is an attempt to reappraise the current discourse on the shogunate's regulation of religions in Early Modern Japan. It aims to identify key features of this system of control, paying particular attention to the actual regulation of Buddhist institutions, temples and monks.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation is an attempt to reappraise the current discourse on the shogunate's regulation of religions in Early Modern Japan. It aims to identify key features of this system of control, paying particular attention to the regulation of Buddhist institutions, temples and monks.

It would seem that a certain stereotypical view persists regarding questions of "the regulation and oversight of Buddhist temples" in the Early Modern period. This is the view that regulation and oversight of religions was put firmly in place in the early Edo period and this then shaped and regulated the organizational structure and activities of Buddhist institutions until the late Edo period. With a view to addressing those lingering unnuanced views of the subject, this presentation discusses the control of Buddhist institutions, temples and monks by the Edo shogunate, the structures and mechanisms in place within Early Modern Buddhist institutions, and various conditions placed upon the existence of Buddhist temples and monks.

The following three points are vital considerations for this discussion. First, it is necessary to confirm what issues the authorities were responding to when they introduced the various aspects of the control of religion; with reference, where appropriate, to political issues of the time other than the control of religion itself. Second, the generally accepted view is that the regulation and control of Buddhist institutions was implemented throughout each separate sect as a national level organization. However, there were some smaller religious institutions which were limited to a particular region, and there were those temples with no organizational affiliation to any religious institution. Examples such as these are also an important focus for a reconsideration of the basic principles behind the system of control and regulation. Thirdly, groups of monks would form links with regional society via the intermediary role of temples. For this reason, all those factors essential to the continued existence of temples, along with other aspects of the life and work of temples, exerted an influence on the forms which religious institutions and monks' associations were to take. This is also an aspect of the issue that demands attention.