How do religions and nationalism interact in secular democracies? With its history of nationalism based on religious ideologies, and the subsequent forced separation of state and religion, Japan provides a valuable case to examine how religion and nationalism interact and affect the politics of a secular state. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand and synthesize the divide within the literature regarding the idea that Shinto is fundamentally nationalist in nature. Due to Shinto's historical ties to Japanese nationalism, it is clear that religion and nationalism played a role in Japanese politics in the past. However, with Japan's transition to democracy and the constitutional provision of the separation between religion and state, religion's effect on nationalism in Japan has become blurred contemporarily. In order to explore these relationships between Shinto, nationalism, and Japanese politics, I investigate how political groups and religious organizations influence nationalist sentiment in political institutions and public opinion in Japan using the Japanese Value Orientations survey and an original dataset. I find that even though the evidence is mounting against the accuracy around the idea of State Shinto and the fundamentally nationalist nature of Shinto, the narrative persists. The existence of nationalist circles perpetuates these narratives, regardless of the truthfulness of the association between Shinto and nationalism because this narrative serves as a benefit to some groups. Shinto may not be automatically nationalist, but there are still nationalistic Shinto practitioners. The description of Shinto as inherently nationalist is not likely to go away while that description still serves a purpose.

År 1945 den amerikanska ockupationsstyrkan pressade fram Japans sekularisering. Mejidynastin, vid makten fram till 1945, hade främjat en framställning av shinto med nationalistiska drag som kallas för shintonationalism. Efter sekulariseringen betraktades religionerna i Japan med misstänksamhet, eller till och med fientlighet, i Japan. Sedan 80-talet har dock nationalistiska rörelser som strävar efter en återgång till den gamla shintonationalismen börjat att ta plats i den politiska scenarion igen. Nationalistiska rörelser har fått stöd av Jinja Honcho, förbundet av de shintoistiska templen. Den här studien har som syfte att analysera shintonationalismens påverkan på det japanska samhället och på den japanska skolan i synnerhet. Studien använder diskursanalys som metod och granskar å ena sidan skolans styrdokument med fokus på moralundervisningsämnen, grundskolsämnet som behandlar ämnet moral och samlevnad. Å andra sidan granskas Jinja Honchos publikationer på förbundets hemsida. Texterna jämförs och resultatet visar att Jinja Honchos framställning av shinto har påverkat diskursen i den japanska skolans styrdokument och främjat en bild av japanerna som överlägsna andra kulturer i deras förhållande till naturen, känslighet, moral och styrka. / In 1945 the US occupation forces pushed for the country's secularization. The Meji-dynasty, in power until 1945, had promoted a representation of Shinto with nationalist features known as Shinto nationalism. After secularization, religions in Japan have been viewed with suspicion if not with hostility. From the 1980s, however, nationalist movements striving for a return to the old Shinto nationalism began to take place in the political scenario again with the support of Jinja Honcho, the Association of Shinto temples. The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of Shinto nationalism on Japanese society and especially on Japanese schools. The study uses discourse analysis as a method and examines from one side the school's governing documents with a focus on moral education, from the other side Jinja Honcho's brochures in the association's website. The texts are compared and the results show that Jinja Honcho's representation of Shinto has influenced the discourse in the Japanese school's governing documents and promoted an image of the Japanese as superior to other cultures in their relationship with nature, sensitivity, morality and strength.