GENERAL HEADQUARTERS
SUPREME COMMANDER FOR THE ALLIED POWERS

15 December 1945

AG 000.3 (15 Dec 45) CIE
(SCAPIN-448)

MEMORANDUM FOR	IMPERIAL JAPANESE GOVERNMENT.
THROUGH	Central Liaison Office, Tokyo.
Subject	Abolition of Governmental Sponsorship, Support, Perpetuation, Control, and Dissemination of State Shinto (Kokka Shinto, Jinja Shinto).

1. In order to free the Japanese people from direct or indirect compulsion to believe or profess to believe in a religion or cult officially designated by the state, and
In order to lift from the Japanese people the burden of compulsory financial support of an ideology which has contributed to their war guilt, defeat, suffering, privation, and present deplorable condition, and
In order to prevent a recurrence of the perversion of Shinto theory and beliefs into militaristic and ultra-nationalistic propaganda designed to delude the Japanese people and lead them into wars of aggression, and
In order to assist the Japanese people in a rededication of their national life to building a new Japan based upon ideals of perpetual peace and democracy,
It is hereby directed that:
a. The sponsorship, support, perpetuation, control, and dissemination of Shinto by the Japanese national, prefectural, and local governments or by public officials, subordinates, and employees acting in their official capacity are prohibited and will cease immediately.
b. All financial support from public funds and all official affiliation with Shinto and Shito shrines are prohibited and will cease immediately.
(1) While no financial support from public funds will be extended to shrines located on public reservations or parks, this prohibition will not be construed to preclude the Japanese government from continuing to support the areas on which such shrines are located.
(2) Private financial support of all Shinto shrines which have been previously supported in whole or in part by public funds will be permitted, provided such private support is entirely voluntary and is in no way derived from forced or involuntary contributions.
c. All propagation and dissemination of militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology in Shinto doctrines, practices, rites, ceremonies, or observances, as well as in the doctrines, practices, rites, ceremonies, and observances of any other religion, faith, sect, creed, or philosophy, are prohibited and will cease immediately.
d. The Relgious Functions Order relating to the Grand Shrine of Ise and the Religious Functions Order relating to State and other Shrines will be annuled.
e. The Shrine Board (Jingi-in) of the Ministry of Home Affairs will be abolished, and its present functions, duties, and administrative obligations will not be assumed by any other governmental or tax-supported agency.
f. All public educational institutions whose primary function is either the investigation and dissemination of Shinto or the training of a Shinto priesthood will be abolished and their physical properties diverted to other uses. Their present functions, duties, and administrative obligations will not be assumed by any other governmental or tax-supported agency.
g. Private educational institutions for the investigation and dissemination of Shinto and for the training of a priesthood for Shinto will be permitted and will operate with the same privileges and be subject to the same controls and restrictions as any other private educational institution having no affiliation with the government; in no case, however, will they receive support from public funds, and in no case will they propagate and disseminate militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology.
h. The dissemination of Shinto doctrines in any form by any means in any educational institution supported wholly or in part by public funds is prohibited and will cease immediately.
(1) All teachers’ manuals and textbooks now in use in any educational institution supported wholly or in part by public funds will be censored, and all Shinto doctrine will be deleted. No teachers’ manual or textbook which is published in the future for use in such institutions will contain any Shinto doctrine.
(2) No visits to Shinto shrines and no rites, practices, or ceremonies associated with Shinto will be conducted or sponsored by any educational institution supported wholly or in part by public funds.
i. Circulation by the government of “The Fundamental Principles of the National Structure” (Kokutai no Hongi), “The Way of the Subject” (Shinmin no michi), and all similar official volumes, commentaries, interpretations, or instructions on Shinto is prohibited.
j. The use in official writings of the terms “Greater East Asia War” (Dai Tōa Sensō), “The Whole World under One Roof” (Hakkō Ichi-u), and all other terms whose connotation in Japanese is inextricably connected with State Shinto, militarism, and ultra-nationalism is prohibited and will cease immediately.
k. God-shelves (Kamidana) and all other physical symbols of State Shinto in any office, school, institution, organization, or structure supported wholly or in part by public funds are prohibited and will be removed immediately.
l. No official, subordinate, employee, student, citizen, or resident of Japan will be discriminated against because of his failure to profess and believe in or participate in any practice, rite, ceremony, or observance of State Shinto or of any other religion.
m. No official of the national, prefectural, or local government, acting in his public capacity, will visit any shrine to report his assumption of office, to report on conditions of government or to participate as a representative of government in any ceremony or observance.
2. a. The purpose of this directive is to separate religion from the state, to prevent misuse of religion for political ends, and to put all religions, faiths, and creeds upon exactly the same legal basis, entitled to precisely the same opportunities and protection. It forbids affiliation with the government and the propagation and dissemination of militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology not only to Shinto but to the followers of all religions, faiths, sects, creeds, or philosophies.
b. The provisions of this directive will apply with equal force to all rites, practices, ceremonies, observances, beliefs, teachings, mythology, legends, philosophy, shrines, and physical symbols associated with Shinto.
c. The term State Shinto within the meaning of this directive will refer to that branch of Shinto (Kokka Shintō or Jinja Shintō) which by official acts of the Japanese Government has been differentiated from the religion of Sect Shinto (Shūha Shintō or Kyōha Shintō) and has been classified a non-religious national cult commonly known as State Shinto, National Shinto, or Shrine Shinto.
d. The term Sect Shinto (Shūha Shintō or Kyōha Shintō) will refer to that branch of Shinto (composed of 13 recognized sects) which by popular belief, legal commentary, and the official acts of the Japanese Government has been recognized to be a religion. e. Pursuant to the terms of Article 1 of the Basic Directive on “Removal of Restrictions on Political, Civil, and Religious Liberties” issued on 4 October 1945 by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in which the Japanese people were assured complete religious freedom,
(1) Sect Shinto will enjoy the same protection as any other religion.
(2) Shrine Shinto, after having been divorced from the state and divested of its militaristic and ultra-nationalistic elements, will be recognized as a religion if its adherents so desire and will be granted the same protection as any other religion in so far as it may in fact be the philosophy or religion of Japanese individuals.
f. Militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology, as used in this directive, embraces those teachings, beliefs, and theories which advocate or justify a mission on the part of Japan to extend its rule over other nations and peoples by reason of:
(1) The doctrine that the Emperor of Japan is superior to the heads of other states because of ancestry, descent, or special origin.
(2) The doctrine that the people of Japan are superior to the people of other lands because of ancestry, descent or special origin.
(3) The doctrine that the islands of Japan are superior to other lands because of divine or special origin.
(4) Any other doctrine which tends to delude the Japanese people into embarking upon wars of aggression or to glorify the use of force as an instrument for the settlement of disputes with other peoples.
3. The Imperial Japanese Government will submit a comprehensive report to this Headquarters not later than 15 March 1946 describing in detail all action taken to comply with all provisions of this directive.
4. All officials, subordinates, and Employees of the Japanese national, prefectural, and local governments), all teachers and education officials, and all citizens and residents of Japan will be held personally accountable for compliance with the spirit as well as the letter of all provisions of this directive.

FOR THE SUPREME COMMANDER:

H.W.Allen
Colonel,A.G.D.
Asst Adjutant General