Western.interl?retations of Shint6 are not at present in a satisfactory condition. Looking back over the twentieth century so far, there seems to have been a series oflurches in interpretation which reflect, on the one hand, the changing scene of Japanese political and religious history since the Meiji Period, and on the other, shifts in Western asumptions about the nature ofreligion. Since the position of Shint6 continues to be of some importance in assessing the ideological situation in Japan at any one time, no apology is needed for pointing out the unintentionally misleading, or at least diversionary effects of some well-known works by Western writers. This paper is by no means an exhaustive attempt to analyse the Western reception of Shint6. The objective is to highlight a number of notable features associated with a few very influential works, in the hope that misleading directions can be avoided in future writing on Shint6 for Westerners.
As far as presuppositions are concerned, perhaps two at least should be clarified at the outset. The first is that there is a political factor to be taken into account in any understanding of Shint6. The relative significance, and indeed the very nature of this political factor, requires continuously adjusted appraisal. It is not the present intention to attempt a normative judgment on the political question. What is argued is that it is not adequate to omit the political factor from the overall equation in a serious discussion of Shint6. The second presupposition is that the appraisal of Shint6 also inevitably involves some view or views about tile nature of religion. If possible, these views should be more than mere personal prejudices. Some attempt should be made in the long term to relate what is said about Shint6 as religion to definitions and theories, however cautious and partial these may be, which find wide currency in the study of religion as a world-wide discipline. Again, no conclusive judgments will be advanced below. However, some preliminary bearings will be presented which may prove helpful in future discussions.