In the Realm of a Dying Emperor by Norma Field

Author:Norma Field
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307761002
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2011-02-08T21:00:00+00:00

Any case involving the Constitution is apt to be taxing, but several features made the Nakaya case particularly difficult to untangle. Not only was her husband not Christian (he had no discernible religious inclinations), but Mrs. Nakaya herself was under no coercion to participate in any aspect of her husband’s enshrinement. That portion of his remains which she took from his father’s home was deposited in a memorial vault at her church. This was a distracting point for many. If the widow had access to part of the remains, why should she object if some other part of him were enshrined elsewhere? In fact, enshrinement in Shinto never involves the remains, but only the names of the dead, and to that extent it is consistent with the ancient impulse of pollution avoidance, the abhorrence of defilement by blood or death. What, then, were the grounds of Mrs. Nakaya’s suit?

First and foremost, the Yamaguchi prefectural branch of the Self-Defense Force, by cooperating with the Veterans’ Association in seeking the enshrinement of deceased members of the former, violated Article 20, Section 3 of the Constitution, which bars the state from religious activity. In so doing, Mrs. Nakaya’s attorneys argued, the state also violated her “religious human rights”: even though she was not compelled to participate in shrine worship, the continual observance by an agent of the state of her husband’s death in a religious practice not her own disturbed her religious peace of mind.

The Yamaguchi District Court and the Hiroshima High Court substantially admitted these claims although they did not order the Veterans’ Association to annul the enshrinement since it had already asked the shrine to do so. (The shrine refused.) How did the Supreme Court go about overturning these findings? Contrary to normal practice, it reexamined the facts as determined by the lower courts and found that the application for enshrinement was in effect the sole act of the private Veterans’ Association. According to the justices, the state was therefore not culpable.

Evidence introduced during the district court proceedings had emphasized the extent to which the prefectural Self-Defense Force rather than the shrine or the Veterans’ Association had taken the initiative in preparing for the apotheosis of SDF members who died on the job in peacetime to supplement the customary practice of enshrining those who had died in combat. A letter of inquiry from the Yamaguchi SDF to prefectural counterparts in Kyushu, where the new practice was widely established, along with encouraging responses to the same, comprise what came to be known as the “secret documents” of the trial. These were delivered by an insider from within the SDF to Reverend Hayashi. (This is one of several heroes encountered by Reverend Hayashi who must go forever unsung.) The importance of the documents is underscored by the fact that both the Yamaguchi SDF and the Kyushu branches tried to deny their existence.7 In order to declare the Yamaguchi prefectural branch of the SDF not guilty of violating Article 20, Section 3, the Supreme Court justices had to minimize the significance of this evidence.

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