A reconsideration of the shinbutsu bunri edicts in the imperial court

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The relationship between the Buddhism and the imperial court since the Heian Period was not cut off by the shinbutsu bunri edicts - the separation of Shinto and Buddhist deities - in 1871. Having a nenjibutsu -a small statue of Buddha always kept close at hand was only one of the ways that, the Buddhist faith was kept alive within the private sphere of the imperial court for the Dowager Empress, the Empress, and imperial family in Tokyo during the Meiji Period. Likewise, in 1895, when Crown Prince Haru (Haru no Miya) fell into critical condition, the imperial house asked the Sennyuji temple to perform Buddhist prayer services before the Fudomyoo and Enmaten to cure his sickness. In the second decade of the Meiji Era, the Imperial Household Ministry permitted the imperial family to adopt a dual structure comprising the official worship for their ancestors according to Shinto rites and the private Buddhist memorial services. This practice influenced the modern imperial court.