Kokka Shinto (こっか神道, formerly 國家神󠄀道󠄁) is a historiographical concept of a kind of state religion system or form of ritual created in Japan under the modern emperor system. The term refers to “jinja shinto” (shrine-centered Shinto), in which Ise Jingu, which enshrines Amaterasu, the ancestral deity of the imperial family, was the head shrine at the top of all the shrines in Japan, and was controlled by the state to distinguish it from other Shinto shrines. In 1868, the new government, which had achieved the restoration of the monarchy, announced the establishment of a united government and the reestablishment of the Shinto priesthood, thereby promoting the nationalization of Shinto and removing Buddhist elements from shrines. Later, when the government-led measures for the national cult of Shinto failed, the government positioned shrines as the “state religion” based on the logic that “a shrine is not a religion,” and treated Shinto shrines and Shintoism as an official religion different from other religions. Here, state Shinto was established, and its role was shared with denominational Shinto, which was involved in religious aspects such as indoctrination. The term “State Shinto” was first used in 1945 by the Shinto directive by GHQ and was first popularized at that time.
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