In the 1860s, an alliance of the Satsuma and Chōshū domains succeeded in overthrowing the Tokugawa regime, leading to the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Next to the economic, political, social, and ideological factors that enabled Chōshū to perform this historical role, there was yet another, lesser-known aspect of Chōshū that was instrumental in preparing the domain for this historical task, namely its eligious landscape, in which Shin (True Pure Land) Buddhism occupied a crucial place. This article discusses how the intertwinement of strong pro-emperor sentiment in Chōshū—a domain with an important Shin Buddhist presence—and the historical link between the Shin sect and the imperial institution propelled Shin Buddhism into playing an important, yet underacknowledged role in the Meiji Restoration.
Mick Deneckere (Wed,) studied this question.