明治初期의 天皇制 이데올로기와 基督敎

Imperial Ideology and Christianity in the Early Meiji Period

This paper aims at understanding how the Meiji government tried to strengthen the national unity to overcome both internal and external crises by analyzing the relationship between the imperial ideology and Christianity. First, it will look at how Christianity was viewed by the Japanese under the early modern seclusion system. Second, it will trace how Christianity influenced the formation of the theory of kokutai and joi with the advent of the western capitalist powers in the late eighteenth century. Lastly, it will try to make clear how the imperial ideology was established during the transition from late Tokugawa to Meiji. Meiji government’s efforts to achieve national unity is closely related with its attitudes and responses to Christianity. Since Christianity represented the disorderliness created by the heretic religion throughout the Tokugawa period, it is very important to trace how Japanese attitude toward Christianity changed in the process of strengthening the national unity centered around the imperial ideology.