（5）The Propagation of the Great Doctrine by the Government

The new Meiji government attempted to foster nationalism and patriotism and sought their foundation in Shinto and the cult of the Emperor. In June, 1868, immediately after the Meiji Restoration, therefore, the government established the Council of Shinto (Jingikan) within the Grand Council, and, in August, 1869, upgraded the former to a higher rank than the latter. At that occasion it appointed Missionaries (Senkyoshi) for the purpose of spreading the gospel of the Great Doctrine (Taikyo). Moreover an Imperial Rescript for the Propagation of the Great Doctrine (Taikyo Senpu no Mikotonori) was issued in February, 1870. The Shinto-based Great Doctrine was established as the civil religion of the state and, thereafter, the government launched a movement for the indoctrination of nationalism and patriotism. This movement was guided mainly by scholars of National Learning, as this thought had functioned as the principal ideological foundation for the Imperial Restoration (Osei Fukko).

The Council of Shinto was downgraded to a Department status in September, 1871, and replaced by the Department of Doctrinal Instruction (Kyobusho) in April, 1872. Along with the establishment of this office to promote activity for the propagation of the Great Doctrine, there was the simultaneous transfer to the Ceremonial Affairs Section (Shikiburyo) in the Department of the Imperial Household (Kunaisho) of jurisdiction over the performance of public rituals. Thus the performance of Shinto rituals and the conduct of evangelical activities came to be separated. In May, 1872, the Department of Doctrinal Instruction appointed Instructors (Kyodoshoku), recruiting them both from the Buddhist and Shinto clergy. At this time the Department also adopted the basics of doctrinal instruction. They were l) inculcation of devotional spirit and patriotic sentiment, 2) the affirmation of heavenly reason and human morality, and 3) the veneration of the Emperor and strict observance of the Imperial will. After the instructional content of the Great Doctrine was thus formulated, institutions for the training of Instructors headed by the Grand Institute of Instruction (Taikyoin) were established through the cooperative efforts of Buddhist denominations. The activities of the state cult, however, could hardly compete successfully with the rising interest in Western ideas among the public.

Such was the background for the government's policy of inculcating nationalism based on the cult of the Emperor. Although this Great Doctrine was strongly promoted by the government during the first few years of the Meiji era, the new wave of Civilization and Enlightenment from the West began to spread to the extent that the new government eventually came to accept it as a premise for the reorganization of the country. By the year 1872, the movement of the Great Doctrine passed its peak and began to decline rapidly without ever achieving the position of authority it had aspired to. This movement, however, was significant from a historical perspective, for it came to constitute the prototype for the extreme nationalism that dominated educational philosophy and policy sixty years later.