5 State and Religion in Anesaki Masaharu

This chapter examines the problems faced by modern Japan through the life and perspective of one of the prewar period's leading intellectuals. In understanding the formation of Anesaki Masaharu's thought, it is important to recognize the decisive influence of his birth family's relationship to Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism and the imperial house. Anesaki supported the League of Nations, which passed a resolution supporting the Treaty of Versailles system, and he supported the minponshugi movement for democratic ideals advocated by Yoshino Sakuzō. Anesaki's experience of the West began with his critique of Western civilization triggered by the "yellow peril" polemic encountered in Germany, passed through the period of establishing the particularity of Japan's religious emperor-institution state in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, continued with introducing the particularity of Japan to the West, and culminated in self-confidence through defining Japan as the intermediary between Eastern and Western civilizations.Keywords: anesaki masaharu; Jōdo Shinshū; treaty of versailles; yellow peril; Yoshino Sakuzō