Shinto Taikyo

   'Great Teaching of Shinto'. One of the thirteen groups of 'sect Shinto' (kyoha shinto). An organisation with no single founder, it was established in 1873 by pro-Shinto Meiji administrators as the 'Temple of the Great Teaching' (Taikyo-in) to organise the missionary activities of the 'Great Promulgation Campaign' (taikyo senpu undo). As a result of internal disagreements the Taikyo-in was dissolved and replaced by the 'Office of Shinto', Shinto jimukyoku. After the official separation of religion and politics (seikyo bunri) of 1882 this office was renamed 'Shinto honkyoku' (Chief Office of Shinto) and recognised as a sect by the Home Ministry in 1886. It fostered the basic principles of the emperor system up to 1945 under the leadership of a series of kancho (presidents), the sixth of whom changed the name to Shinto Taikyo to emphasise the sect's non­governmental status. Its teachings focus on the first three kami in the Kojiki account of the origin of the world; Ame-no-Minakanushi-no-kami, Takami-musubi-no-kami and Kami-musubi-no-kami, as well as Amaterasu, Izanagi and Izanami, and the yao-yorozu-no-kami. The teachings of the sect are closely aligned with the major features of jinja shinto. They include an emphasis on the eternal bond between Shinto and Japan, purification (harae), the closeness of kami and humans, festivals and enshrinement of the dead. After the second world war Shinto Taikyo reformed its teachings to emphasise a way of peace founded on respect for the emperor in place of the more overt nationalism of prewar days, and looks back to the Meiji period when the 'Japanese spirit' flourished. It was recognised as a shukyo hojin in 1951. In deference to its origins Shinto Taikyo is regarded as the representative of all the sect Shinto groups.