Paper short abstract:

Religious reforms in the 1660s that separated Shintō and Buddhism in Okayama-han are the first example of shinbutsu bunri covering a major domain. Shintō emerged by the reforms as a separate religion. The talk will discuss long-term developments of Okayama's Domain Shintō in the Edo period.

Paper long abstract:

The Shintō-related reforms introduced 1666 in Okayama-han by the daimyō Ikeda Mitsumasa (1609-1682) were originally meant to reduce and consolidate the exorbitant number of shrines in the domain. Like in other domains (e.g. Mito), too, one aimed at a system of one shrine per village that should cater to the respective ujigami. In the aftermath of a severe domain-internal persecution of Buddhism in the same year, however, Shintō was charged with new responsibilities of religious control of the populace. This changed the scope of the Shintō reforms in Okayama decisively in ways not foreseen at the outset, and made Okayama-han a forerunner of developments that can be observed in other domains only a century later at the earliest.

The nature of Shintō that ensued in Okayama is a prime example of Domain Shintō. Initiated by Mitsumasa and his domain government it showed characteristics like a domain-wide separation of Shintō and Buddhism, the development of a professional Shintō clergy or the utilizing of Shintō for means of domain administration.

One focus of this talk will be the long-term effects of Okayama's Shintō reforms of the late 1660s. While several reforms were abandoned rather quickly by Mitsumasa's son and successor Tsunamasa (1638-1714) in the following decades others remained untouched. In this respect, attention will be given to the emerging of Okayama's professional Shintō clergy and its subsequent development in terms of administrative and cultic functions. By considering external factors like Yoshida Shintō or the relations between Okayama-han and the Tokugawa government the question of the extent of autonomy in the development of Domain Shintō in Okayama shall also be discussed.