Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 201, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1912 — PLANS RELIGION FOR JAPAN [ARTICLE]

PLANS RELIGION FOR JAPAN

Mr. Izawa Would Have It Center About the Divine Right of the Emperor. * ’ Mr. Izawa. ex-vice-minister of education, is the originator of a plan to provide Japan with an entirely new religion. The new religious body, according .to the Japan Advertiser, is to be called “The State Religlotfis Community of Japan,” and Mr. Izawa explains bis proposal as follows: "The Japanese Empire having been governed by one imperial family since the very beginning, the emperor possesses divine right. Such a policy can hardly be found In any other country. In China It has happened that the emperor abdicates his throne to be succeeded by one of his former subjects. Then, too, when the German emperor spoke once of his divine right, he was strongly criticised. But in Japan the emperor is the descendant of Ameno-minakanuchi-no-Kami, the creator of the world. Hence the imperial family being a divine race is entirely different from the race of Japanese. "This Amenominakanuchi-no-Kamf is the only creator of the world, and he has existed since the beginning and still exists. He is called emperor of Heaven in China, Buddha In India, and God in Western countries. * My plan is to gather a religious community around pur emperor for the purpose of cultivating among its members loyalty toward the emperor and of elevating their moral ideas. “As to the citizens of other countries, they are all living under the gracious protection of the Creator of the world, so that they can become members of this religious community if they become subjects of the Japanese emperor.