Undercover Acolytes: Honganji, the Japanese Army, and Intelligence-Gathering Operations

• Published in: Journal of religious history Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 185 - 205
• Main Author: Boyd, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2013; Blackwell
• Subjects: 19th-20th century; Armed forces; Armies; Asian religions; Buddhism; Buddism; Christianity; Clergy; General subjects; History and sciences of religions; Imperialism; Intelligence gathering; Intelligence services; Japan: History; Japanese history; Kakumin, Ota; Kozui, Otani; Modern period; Monks; Religious orders; Sociological studies; Japan; Army; Buddhism; Monk; Shin buddhism
• ISSN: 0022-4227; 1467-9809
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-9809.12027

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as the Japanese Army sought intelligence on the countries neighbouring Japan, the military made use of the Buddhist priesthood as a cover for intelligence gathering. In addition, elements of the Buddhist priesthood, in particular the Kyoto‐based Honganji sect, were happy to cooperate with the military in its intelligence gathering operations, either by allowing military officers to disguise themselves as monks or by having Buddhist monks gather military intelligence for the Japanese Army. This article examines the relationship between the Japanese Army and the Honganji sect following the 1868 Meiji Restoration, the activities of military officers who disguised themselves as Buddhist monks and the intelligence gathering activities of Buddhist monks, hoping to shed more light on the part that Japanese Buddhism played in Japan's imperial adventures.