+Kokutai

Development of kokutai

  • kokutai (國體) is the national spirit and identity of Japan.
  • Sources
    • The shinto legends describing divine origin from the kAmi. The imperial family is supposed to have descended from amaterasu omikAmi.
    • The 200 year isolation, and the intellectual activity of the likes of the mito school strengthened and formalized it.
  • Impact
    • The expulsion and rejection of inimical thought-systems, such as Christianity.
    • The selective ingestion of foreign influences, without being digested itself.