1. Atsuko Ichijo Kingston University
The nation as a sacred communion: an investigation in a non-western context
Atsuko Ichijo
Kingston University

2. Chosen Peoples (2003)
‘Unto thy seed I have given this land.’ From the moment of God's covenant with Abraham in the Old Testament, the idea that a people are chosen by God has had a central role in shaping national identity.

3. 選ばれた民 (2007)
How far the idea ‘the nation as a sacred communion’ which draws from powerful motives in Judeo-Christian traditions is applicable to non-western cases?

4. Chosen peoples: the thesis
‘… Old Testament beliefs in chosen peoples and sacred territories were a continual source of inspiration and language for a dynamic providential history among so many Christian peoples in Europe and America; and that in turn was vital for their growing sense of national identity in the early modern epoch. The religious aspect, rooted in the Hebrew Bible, appeared therefore to complement and reinforce their sense of common ethnicity. That in turn had implications for nationalism. As a European ideology and movement, it owed much to biblical and religious motifs and assumptions; in many ways these have been more important than their secular forms and doctrines. ….’ Anthony Smith (2003) Chosen Peoples, p.viii

5. Three dimensions to the nation as a sacred communion
Ethnic: belief in common ancestry;
Cultic: ‘a separate public cult that unites its adherents into a single moral community of the faithful’;
Moral-legal: ‘a union of equals who composes a moral community whose members are possessed, at least theoretically, of common rights and duties’
Ibid: 32-33

6. Preface to the Japanese edition
Four key sources of the sacred and their role in underpinning modern national identities: The belief in ethnic election or chosenness; Collective attachments to sacred lands; the ideal of golden ages; aspirations for a national destiny based on sacrifice.
The key question: ethnic election -> ‘ancient beliefs in the special sanctity of Japan’

7. Japan as a divine country

8. 國體の本義 (The Essence of the National Polity) (1937)
The authoritative commentary on the nature of Japanese national polity;
To cultivate ‘correct’ national spirit among Japanese imperial subjects.

9. 國體の本義 (The Essence of the National Polity) (1937) Cont’d
第一 大日本國體 一、肇國 大日本帝國は、萬世一系の天皇皇祖の神勅を奉じて永遠にこれを統治し給ふ。これ、我が萬古不易の國體である。… The Great Japanese Empire is governed by the emperor, the carrier of the unbroken imperial line from the first emperor, by divine order and he governs the Empire forever. This is our ancient and unchanging national polity. …

10. 八紘一宇 (Hakko Ichiu)

11. Japan as a divine country according to Hakko Ichiu
Going back to the mythical first emperor, Jin’mu, the idea of Hakko Ichiu represents a version of the idea of Japan as a divine country, that it is divine because it has been ruled by the descendants of the sun goddess, Amaterasu.
-> suggests some affinity with the ideal of ethnic election/chosenness

12. Some doubts
The foundational myth – the land is created first (国生み: kuniumi) and then deities were produced in the following phase (神生み: kamiumi).

13. 神皇正統記 Chronicles of the Authentic Lineages of the Divine Emperors 1339
Kitabatake Chikafusa

14. Jin’no Shotoki
Great Japan is the divine land. The heavenly progenitor founded it, and the sun goddess bequeathed it to her descendants to rule eternally. Only in our country is this true; there are no similar examples in other countries. This is why our country is called the divine land.

15. The context 辺土粟散: hendo zokusan; 末法思想: mappo shiso;
本地垂迹: honji suijaku

16. Are the Japanese chosen?
Compared to the Hebrew example, very little agency on both parts;
Unconditional love of the divine and rather passive masses -> reflected in Hakko Ichiu;
The idea of ethnic election does not appear to apply to the Japanese experience -> Smith’s idea of the nation as a sacred communion is not clearly recognisable.