Shinto Influences In Japanese Schools

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26904, 16 October 1948, Page 7

Shinto Influences In Japanese Schools

(By Air Mail.) TOKIO, Oct 9. Nationalistic, militaristic and Shinto influences have been discovered in many Tokio schools? according to a recent report by the Tokio Education Bureau. The report says that a general Shinto atmosphere was found in the Renshin Junior and Senior High Schools in Nerima suburb, and that as a result other senior and junior high schools will be required to submit reports dealing with the removal of all undesirable, supernationalistic influences. Renshin is a cult with about 20.000 followers which holds that both gods and men will meet in the next world

Shinto is the basis of the cult, and is implanted throughout the curriculum of the school. The three sacred Shinto treasures—the mirror, the jewel, and the sword — which traditionally are believed to have been handed down from the sun goddess through Jimmu Tenno and the unbroken chain of Japanese Emperors, form the emblem of the schools. Classes are named for the treasures. The chief of the Metropolitan Education Bureau, commenting on the report, said that many schools had songs, precepts and emblems which could easily lead to misunderstanding. Those using the sacred mirror and jewel should reflect on their ideological trend, he said.