Pacifism and Pacification in Konkōkyō Ireisai: Local War Memorial Ritual and the Construction of Group Identity in Modern Japan

Since the early twentieth century, Konkōkyō, a Sect Shinto new religious movement, has conducted war memorials and spirit pacification rituals (ireisai) on behalf of Japan’s civilian and military war dead. I trace the development of Konkōkyō ireisai from the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) through the present to demonstrate how marginalized religions utilize memorial rituals to mediate their position in wartime and postwar society. Konkōkyō’s ireisai evoke the group’s history of service to the wartime Japanese state while reifying its postwar pacifist identity. I examine continuities and shifts in Konkōkyō ireisai to show how rhetorics of peace and war coexist in spirit pacification rituals across time. Postwar Konkōkyō relies on local bodies rather than the national organization to conduct these rituals, avoiding nationwide attention and controversy. Konkōkyō postwar ireisai transform the institution’s wartime activities into an ongoing pacifist mission, seeking to pacify the war dead and war responsibility tensions.