Written by leading scholars in the field, this book provides new insights, based on original research, into the full spectrum of modern Japanese political-religious activity: from the prewar uses of Shinto in shaping the modern imperial nation-state to the postwar 'new religions' that have challenged the power of the political establishment.

KLAUS ANTONI Chair for Japanese Cultural Studies, Institute for Japanese Studies, Tübingen University, Germany ERICA BAFFELLI Lecturer in Asian Religions, the University of Otago, New Zealand JOHN BREEN Professor at Nichibunken International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan KEVIN DOAK Nippon Foundation Endowed Chair in Japanese Studies, Georgetown University, USA PRASENJIT DUARA Raffles Professor of Humanities and Director of Research, the National University of Singapore ROGER GRIFFIN Professor in Modern History Oxford Brookes University, UK KYU JYUN KIM History, University of California, Davis, USA FABIO RAMBELLI Teacher in Japanese Religion, the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA ROY STARRS Lecturer in Japanese and Asian Studies, the University of Otago, New Zealand ALAN TANSMAN Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California, Berkeley, USA BRIAN VICTORIA Professor of Japanese Studies, Antioch University, Ohio, USA YIJANG ZHONG Ph.D. Candidate, the University of Chicago, USA.