State Shinto in the Lives of the People: The Establishment of Emperor Worship, Modern Nationalism, and Shrine Shinto in Late Meiji

Taking the lead from Helen Hardacre's scholarship as well as recent postcolonial theory, this article seeks to delineate new terms in the longstanding debate over State Shinto. It traces the historical process by which State Shinto penetrated the lives of the people, focusing especially on the period from 1890 through 1910. During this time, conceptions of the national polity and reverence for the emperor were crucial in familiarizing the people with State Shinto. Concerned primarily with how the people were drawn into and embraced broader discourses, this article looks at the development of three systems critical to this process: (1) the ritual system for emperor worship; (2) education and propagation system for notions of the national polity; and (3) the training system for Shrine priests.