After World War II had ended in 1945, the U.S.-led Allied forces had played a leading role in deciding Japanese policy, and Japan had struggled to recover.
The policies which had driven Japanese people to war had been cleared out so as not to try to make war again.
And the prejudicial religious policy after the Meiji Period (1868- ) had also been included among these policies.
Emperor Showa had issued like that people could have denied the concept “Emperor is the living god” one year after the end of the World War II, though he himself had never made an assertion like “I am a God”.
The action that anyone would have inculcated the idea of Japanese people being a chosen people by interpreting Japanese mythology to suit their convenience had banned.
The concept “state sponsorship of Shintoism” had also been prohibited.
And the rating of shrines which Ise Grand Shrine had rated the top grade had also been abolished.
Of course, sufficient degree of protection provided by the state for any specific religion had also been extinguished.
However, the existences of successive Emperors who had already been enshrined as deities hadn’t been denied.
And they had also been allowed to perform traditional Shito ritual dedicated to the gods of the shrines.
The existence of Shinto hadn’t been denied, and Japanese mythology hadn’t been lost.
In other word, protection hadn’t been provided, but at the same time, they hadn’t been intended to ruin.
Metaphorically speaking, shrines and temples had been required independent accounting system like industrial firms.
“Find a way on your own for your lives!”
Would it have been the situation like above?
With the change of the religious policy, Ise Grand Shrine that had been provided careful protection as “the shrine dedicated to the guardian goddess of imperial family” had faced the crisis of discontinuation of Sengu again.
It had been the reason why that public funding for Sengu had been terminated.
They had been no longer able to rely on those in power, though they could have come out of the crisis thanks to the support from ODA Nobunaga, TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi, and TOKUGAWA Ieyasu in the Warring States period when they had suffered from financial difficulty.
It had been all darkness one step ahead.
In 1945, the same year that World War II had ended, Ise Grand Shrine had announced the discontinuation of the 59th Sengu.
In fact, the 59th Sengu had planned in 1949, and it had been 4 years away.
But still in those days, it had been clear that prospects had been extremely gloomy.
Sengu of Ise Grand Shrine that they had been continued to perform every 20 years without fail from 1609 had been discontinued.
After that, “the independent account system” of Ise Grand Shrine had come to face a real test.
The supports from many people had been needed for the sake of Sengu.
