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A Critique of Girei To Kenryoku: Tennō no Meiji Ishin (Ritual and Power: The Emperor’s Meiji Restoration) by John Breen—What “Narrative” Conceals

John Breen, Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, published Girei To Kenryoku: Tennō No Meiji Ishin (August 2011, Heibonsha sensho, the following citations in this article with page numbers only refer to this book). This book compiles eight articles that Breen wrote on the modern emperors and shrines between 1995 and 2009. The introduction and chapters one through three examine the influence of various rituals on power relations from the viewpoint of ritual theory. The rituals examined are the Meiji Emperor’s visit to the Ise Grand Shrines in Meiji 2 (1869),the Shogun (General) Iemochi’s procession to Kyoto and audience with Emperor Kōmei in Bunkyū 3 (1863), the ritual oath, (The Imperial Oath consisting of five articles [五カ条の御誓文]) in Keiō 4 (1868), and diplomatic rituals that the Meiji Emperor performed. Chapters four through six “explore the new meanings attached to Shinto and shrines at the beginning of the modern era through their connection with the emperor,” (p.18), and discuss topics including the separation of Buddhism and Shinto, Ōkuni Takamasa’s view of Christianity (Tenshukyō, 天主教), and the Hie Shrine’s spring festival, sannō matsuri(山王祭). In the addendum, Breen considers the Yasukuni Shrine(靖国神社)as a site of memory and claims that the history narrated at this site is “extremely biased and distorted” (p. 264). This article aims to closely investigate his book.

『明治聖徳記念学会紀要』復刊第49号、平成24年11月
TRANSACTIONS OF THE MEIJI SEITOKU KINEN GAKKAI
(MEIJI JAPAN SOCIETY)Vol.49 Novenber,2012

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English
Author
Nitta Hitoshi
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1 - 22
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