ABSTRACT
The Romanticism in non-Western areas characterises contemporary world affairs such as Confucius International Relations, discourse of Harmony, pan-Asianism and pan-Islamism. However, the emergence of Romanticism in the non-Western areas as a counter movement to the Western exclusionism is not new. In Japan, the structural reformation of world political economy appeared in the form of emergence of Romanticism, particularly in the inter-war period. While the Kyoto School philosophy typically exemplifies this phenomenon, some religious organisations – Nishihongwanji temple, the biggest Buddhist organisation of Japan, in particular – also took a leading role to promote the romantic ideas of Japaneseness. This chapter strives to reveal the role Nishihongwanji performed to disseminate the Romanticism among ordinary citizens in the era of confrontation against the West, and tries to find out the reason for this incorporation with the Japanese Imperial regime of the time in order to draw a cautionary tale for the politicization of nationalism and religion.
