39 Establishment of Shinto as a “state” religion

In 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) unified the different provinces of Japan and established a central government in the city of Edo, the site of present-day Tokyo. For the next 265 years, the Tokugawa government issued various regulations that diminished the power of local warlords called Daimyo and increased the power of the central government. During this period of peace former warriors (samurai) set aside their arms and became government bureaucrats, educated in Confucian principles.

During this period both Buddhist and Shinto institutions were shaped and controlled to some extent by the powerful new government. In the case of Shinto, the Tokugawa government set up a national system of shrine registration in which all shrines were ranked and registered. Some thinkers, such as Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), began to seriously study the 8th century Kojiki to understand the indigenous religion of Japan before its encounter with Buddhism. In his view, Shinto was a natural spontaneous expression of sincerity.