* Japanese personal names are indicated in this paper with the surname first, according to the ordinary Japanese custom.
1. See my article "Japanese Reaction to the Institutional Church," Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 9, 3(1972): 489-520; see bibliography about the movement on p. 491 note.
The present paper grew out of a more general study of the Mukyokai and was read by the author at the fourth Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Asian Studies, York university, May 26-28, 1973. Field studies of the Mukyokai movement were conducted by the author in Japan throughout 1968 and in the summer of 1971.
The purpose of the research was a pilot study of the nature and characteristics of the non-Church movement in Japan, and an analysis of those sociological factors which might account for the emergence and development of the movement. Data were collected through the use of interviews and questionnaires and through a content analysis of the exceptionally large literature of the movement. The present article, however, is restricted to the pacifist aspects of this religious group, and it is mainly based on literary and historical documentation.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the National Science Foundation, the Center for Japanese Studies of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Canada Council for making possible the research work.
2. See Kokutai no Hongi Cardinal Principles of the National entity of Japan, tr. J. O. Gauntlett and ed. By R. K. Hall, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949).
3. A separation from Rome for this Church was considered not feasible because contrary to the essence of the Catholic faith. However, according to the directives received from the Vatican, Catholics were allowed by their bishops to participate in patriotic ceremonies conducted at Shinto shrines. In effect, the Catholic Church took in bona fide (good faith) the contention of the government that state Shinto and its ceremonies did not have a religious meaning.
4. See Kun Sam Lee, The Christian Confrontation with Shinto Nationalism (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1966), chap. 5, pp. 111-51.
6. Kuyama Yasushi, ed., Kindai Nihon to Kirisutokyo (Modern Japan and Christianity) (Tokyo: Sobun sha, 1960), vol. 2, p. 334.
7. Ebisawa Akira, Toa Shin chitsujo no Kensetsu to Kirisutokyo ("Christianity and the Establishment of the New Order in East Asia"), Bulletin of the National Christian Council of Japan, p. 183. June, 1939, p. 1, translated by Bishop J. C. Mann. Reported in D. C. Holtom, Modern Japan and Shinto Nationalism: A Study of Present Trend in Japanese Religions (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1963), pp. 109-110.
8 Takeda Kiyoko, "The Indigenization of Christianity in Japan," The Japan Christian Yearbook, 1962, chap. 2, p. 15.
9. Morioka Iwao, "Japanese Churches and World War II," The Japan Christian Quarterly, XXXIV, 2 (Spring, 1968): 75-85. See also D. C. Holtom, op. cit.
10. See the critical work published on this subject by Ozawa Saburo, Uchimura Kanzo Fukei Jiken (The Lese Majeste Incident of Uchimura Kanzo) (Tokyo: Shinkyo Shuppan sha.
11. Letter to C. D. Bell, March 6, 1891, Zenshu (Collected Works) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1932), vol. XX, p. 207; see also Ozawa, op. cit., pp. 66-67.
12. The above ideas were expressed particularly in Inoue's famous articles Kyoiku to Shukyo no Shototsu (The Conflict Between Religion and Education), in 1893. Cf. Kuyama Yasushi, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 203-5.
13. Uchimura, Zenshu, II, pp. 177-85. 1 Uchimura, Zenshu, XVI, pp. 26-36. He also wrote a series of articles in support of the Japanese cause.
14. See, for example, Zenshu, II, pp. 212-21.
15. Uchimura, op. Cit., XX, pp. 289-90.
17. See Yamamoto Taijiro, ed., Uchimura Kanzo Nikki Shokan Zenshu (Collected Diary Notes of Uchimura Kanzo) (Tokyo: Kyobunkan, 1964), vol. 2, pp. 170-82.
18. Fujii; zenshu (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1931) vol. 3, pp. 473-608.
19. Yanaihara, Zenshu (Tokyo: Iwanami, 1965) vol. XXVI, pp. 103-4.
20. Yanaihara, Minzoku to Heiwa (Race and Peace) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1936).
21. Originally published by Chuo Koron, September issue, 1937, which was withdrawn from the circulation by the authorities. See Zenshu, XVIII, pp. 623-46.
22. Yanaihara, Zenshu, XVIII, pp. 647-84.
23. Yanaihara, Kokka to Shukyo (The State and Religion) (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 1942).
24. Takeda Kiyoko, Dochaku to Haikyo (Indigenization and Apostasy) (Tokyo: Shinkyo Shuppan sha, 1967), Part IV, no. 2, "Asami Sensaku no Heiwa Shiso" (The Pacifism of Asami Sensaku), pp. 325-86.
25. Quoted by Asami in Sho Jujika (Sapporo, 1952), pp. 67 ff., translated by Owade Yasuyuki, "The Japanese Christian Conscience During the Pacific War," The Japan Christian Quarterly, XXIV, 4 (fall, 1958): 297.
26. W. H. G. Norman, "Non-Church Christianity in Japan," The International Review of Mission, XLVI, 184 (Oct., 1987): 387-88.
27. One of the contemporary writers who has expressed the Mukyokai's point of view on peace in a more comprehensive way is Professor Takahashi Saburo. Among his best essays see for example: "Heiwa o Tsukuru Mono" (The Peacemaker), in Masaike Megumu, ed., Gendai to Kirisuto sha, pp. 2-29; "Kojin no Mokuhyo to Kokka no Mokuhyo" (The Goal of an Individual and the Goal of a Country), in bid., pp. 30-69; Takahashi Saburo and Fukase Tadaichi, Seisho no Heiwa shugi to Nihon Koku Kenpo (Biblical Pacifism and the Constitution of Japan), (Tokyo: Seito sha, 1967).
28. See for example Takahashi Saburo, "Kojin no Mokuhyo, Kokka no Mokuhyo" in Takahashi Saburo and Fukase Tadakazu, ed., op. Cit., pp. 43-46.
30. See the literature published in occasion of the first Japanese-Korean Conference held in Gotamba (May 19-21, 1966), particularly: Masaike Megumu, ed., Mukuge no Kuni (The Hibiscus' Country) (Tokyo: Seisho no Nihon, 1967); Masaike Megumu et al., ed., Mukuge to Sakura (The Hibiscus and the Cherry Blossom) (Tokyo: Seito-sha, 1968); Takahashi Saburo, "Kannichi Kirisuto sha Yuwa Semina" (Seminar for the Reconciliation of Korean and Japanese Christians), Jujika no Kotoba, 31 (July, 1967): 97-100.
31. In our survey the respondents were asked to express their feelings on the following statement: "The U.S. should give up their present policy in Asia and let the Asian people build their own destiny." The results were: 85% agreed; 8% disagreed; 5% uncertain; 2% no answer.
Recent non-Church literature abounds with articles and books showing that war is today an obsolete means to achieve order in the world and the international relations should be placed on quite different basis. About 50% of our respondent advocated a World Confederation of States.
32. Uchimura, Zenshu, X, pp. 363-65. About Uchimura's Pacifism see also Fujimachi Takayuki, Uchimura Kanzo no Hisen ron (The Pacifism of Uchimura Kanzo), Nagoya Gakuin Ronso, no. 3, 1964. See also J. F. Howes, "Kanzo Uchimura on War," The Japan (;Christian Quarterly, XX, 4 (Fall, 1958) 290-92. A new article on Uchimura's pacifism by the same author will appear in the forthcoming publication Pacifism in Japanese Christian and Socialist Tradition edited by N. Bamba and J. F. Howes.
33. Fujita Wakao, Yanaihara Tadao: Sono Shinko to Shogai (Yanaihara Tadao: His Faith and Life) (Tokyo: Kyobun kan, 1967), pp. 174-75. An article on Yanaihara's pacifism by the same author will appear in the forthcoming collection edited by N. Bamba and J. F. Howes mentioned above.
34. In our survey we invited the respondents to give their opinions on the moral obligation to report to the draft in the case of an unjust war. The answers were as follows: moral obligation to obey the law: 49%; no such moral obligation: 20%; uncertain: 24%; no answer: 7. Most respondents who declared themselves 'uncertain' said that the case should be decided exclusively by the subject involved in the situation, according to what God would inspire him to do at that crucial moment.
35. See Nakane Chie, Japanese Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970), p. 103.
36. Uchimura, "Who and What We Are", The Japan Christian Intelligencer, I, 1 (March, 1926):7-8
This article is the reproduction of "Pacifism among Japanese Non-church Christians," Journal of The American Academy of Religion. vol. 41 (1973), pp. 506-519, by permission.
Carlo Caldarola (1928-1994?), was born in Naples, Italy, and earned Ph.D. in sociology at University of California, Berkeley. He became Professor of Sociology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He was author of several published articles related to Japanese culture; his major book is entitled Non-Church Christianity in Japan: A Sociological Analysis.