Bureau of Shinto Affairs

Bureau of Shinto Affairs (神道事務局, Shinto Jimukyoku)[1][2] was the successor to the Great Teaching Institute, which was founded in 1875.[3] In the religious administration of the Meiji era, it is an organization that brings together Shinto factions nationwide. It was a public central institution. Meiji Government set up a Student Dormitory at the Bureau of Shinto Affairs to train priests. It was also an accreditation body of Sect Shinto.

It served a purpose of training kyodo shoku and over time ran into issues over pantheon disputes.[3] This eventually led to the ascension of the Ise sect and the marginalization of the Izumo sect.[3]

In 1882 it was made into a shinto sect itself due to an ordinance demanding the separation of shrine priests and missionaries or theologians, and in 1884 such missionaries of both shinto and Buddhism were suppressed.[3] The Office of Japanese Classics Research was created as a replacement for it.

In 1886 it reorganized into the Shinto Headquarters (神道本局, Shinto Honkyoku) and the name was later changed to Shinto Taikyo.[4]

In 1912, the so-called The Thirteen Schools of Shinto came together to form the Kyoha Shintō Rengōkai (教派神道連合会, Association of Sectarian Shinto).