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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2025
This article discusses the activities of three Buddhist monks: the Japanese Fujii Sōsen (1896–1971) and Kanda Eun (1901–1948), as well as the Chinese Daxing (1900–1952) in Second World War-era China and how their paths intersected. Daxing, who remained in the area occupied by Japan, has been accused of having been too accommodating towards the Japanese forces. However, while Daxing did indeed interact with pro-Japanese Buddhist organizations, his actual relationship with the occupation was a lot more ambiguous, as shown by his lacklustre involvement with Japanese-sponsored initiatives. Fujii and Kanda were deeply involved in Sino-Japanese Buddhist exchange from the late 1920s and were two of the few Japanese Buddhists who also became fluent in Chinese. While they remained highly sympathetic to the plight of the Chinese people, they also continued to work with the Japanese occupiers. Thus, the space occupied by Daxing, Fujii, and Kanda is not easily covered by either ‘resistance’ or ‘collaboration’, but falls uneasily between the two. The article uses the example of these three figures to delineate this ambiguous space and examine how Buddhists sought to navigate the treacherous terrain of occupied China.
1 Yin Shun, ‘Xingzhuang’, in Daxing fashi yizhu (Taipei: Haichaoyin she, 1963), p. 1; Dongchu, Zhongguo fojiao jindaishi (Taipei: Zhonghua fojiao wenhuaguan, 1974), vol. 2, p. 903.
2 For example, Dongchu participated in the East Asian Buddhist Conference sponsored by the Central China-Chinese Religious Federation in Japan as a representative of Zhenjiang. See Chūshi shūkyo daidō renmei, Chūnichi bunka kyokai and Nikka bukkyō renmei (eds), Zhonghua minguo sanshi nian Dongya fojiao dahui jiyao (publication details unknown).
3 Yōsuke, Matsutani, Nihon no Chūgoku senryō tōchi to shūkyō seisaku—Nitchū kirisutosha no kyōryoku to teikō (Tokyo: Akashi shoten, 2020).Google Scholar
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7 Nakamura Takashi, ‘Tōa shoin to Tōbungaku-dō: Taiwan sōtokufu Kanan kyōiku shisetsu no ranshō’, Tenri daigaku gakuhō, no. 124, 1980; Nakamura Takashi, ‘Suwatō Hakuai-kai iin no seiritsu’, Tenri daigaku gakuhō, no. 162, 1989; Nakamura Takashi, ‘Fukushū Minpō to Amoi Zenmin shīnnippō: Taiwan sōtokufu Kanan shinbun kōsaku no kaishi’, Tenri daigaku gakuhō, no. 169, 1992; Nakamura Takashi, ‘Taiwan sōtokufu Kanan shinbun kōsaku no tenkai’, Tenri daigaku gakuhō, no. 171, 1992.
8 Nakanishi Naoki, Shokuminchi Taiwan to Nihon bukkyō (Kyoto: Sanninsha, 2016), p. 147.
9 Satō Saburō, ‘Meiji sanjūsan nen no Amoi jiken ni kansuru kōsatsu: kindai Nitchū kōshō shijō no hitokoma toshite’, Yamagata daigaku kiyō, vol. 5, no. 2, 1963.
10 Satō, Kindai Nitchū kōshōshi no kenkyū, p. 245; Jōdo shinshū honganjiha shūmushonai kaigai kaikyō yōran kankō iinkai (ed.), Kaigai kaikyō yōran (Kyoto: Dōhōsha, 1974), pp. 220, 230–231.
11 Tanaka reverted to lay life after returning to Japan, becoming a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for his native Aichi Prefecture. ‘Nihon kenkyū no tame no rekishi dētabēsu’, Jinji kōshinroku (8th edn): https://00m.in/rxqwO, [accessed 22 August 2024].
12 Kanda Eun, Higashihonganji kaikyō enkaku taiyō, in the private collection of Kanda Masami.
13 Regarding Ōtani missionaries in South China before 1925, see Murashima Eiji, ‘Nanshin Nihon bukkyō fukyōsha no Shamu kakyō fukyō dokō: nijūsseiki shotō no Chūgoku,Tai ni okeru Nihon bukkyō fukyō no kyōtsūsei to fukyōken mondai’, Ajia taiheiyō tōkyū, no. 42, 2021. About the period after 1925, see Sakaida Yukiko, ‘Shinshū Ōtaniha no Amoi kaikyō: kaikyōshi Kanda Eun to keibutsukai wo chūshin ni’, in Taiwan no Nihon bukkyō: fukyō kōryū kindaika, (ed.) Shibata Mikio (Tokyo: Bensei shuppan, 2018).
14 Murashima, ‘Nanshin Nihon bukkyō fukyōsha no Shamu kakyō fukyō dokō’, pp. 73–75.
15 Kanda Suekichi (Eun), handwritten resume (October 1941); Kanda Tomomitsu, Hitosuji no kokoro jōkein Kanda Eun tsuisō roku, self-published, 1975. Regarding Kanda’s activities in the 1930s, see Sakaida, ‘Shinshū Ōtaniha no Amoi kaikyō.
16 Rongguo, Wang, Fujian fojiao shi (Xiamen: Xiamen daxue chubanshe, 1997), pp. 345–346Google Scholar; Dongchu, Zhongguo fojiao jindaishi, vol. 2, pp. 811–812.
17 Dongchu, Zhongguo fojiao jindaishi, vol. 2, pp. 813, 851–852; Wang, Fujian fojiao shi, pp. 345–347, 357–361.
18 Yu Yu and Shi Jichen, Xiamen Nanputuosi zhi, included in Jiexiang, Du (ed.), Zhongguo fosishi zhi huikan (Taipei: Mingwen shuju, 1980), vol. 2, no. 8, pp. 87–93Google Scholar; Diwen, , ‘Xiamen Minnan foxueyuan yinxiang ji’, Nanying fojiao, vol. 12, no. 5, 1934.Google Scholar
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20 Moru, ‘Minnan foxueyuan gaikuang hong bian’, in Yu Yu and Shi Jichen, Xiamen Nanputuosi zhi, included in Du (ed.), Zhongguo fosishi zhi huikan, pp. 25–32.
21 ‘Nihon bukkyōto ni yosuru sho Chūkaminkokusō Taikyo hōshi dōshin dōkyōto ni yobikaku’, Chūgai nippō, 25 November 1931.
22 See Xiamen shi renmin zhengfu difangzhi bangongshi, Nanputuosi zhi, Chapter 3, available at: http://www.fzb.xm.gov.cn/zyz/nptsz/201308/t20130827_846304.htm, [last accessed 11 March 2018].
23 Aiming for modernization, Meiji Japan modelled itself on Europe and the United States. The government, the military, and even Buddhist religious groups sent elites to study in Europe and the United States. For this reason, at that time the term ‘China hand’ had a negative image of being ‘non-elite’ (as they had not been sent to the West) in addition to meaning that they were well versed in Chinese affairs.
24 For example, in 1911, during the Wuchang Uprising, Utsunomiya Tarō of the Army General Staff sent Mizuno to Wuchang. After that, he received information about Sun Yat-sen in the United States from Mizuno and handed over 1,000 yen to fund the revolutionary group. Nihon rikugun to Ajia seisaku: rikugun taishō Utsunomiya Tarō nikki (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2007), vol. 2, pp. 40–41.Google Scholar
25 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Furukusai jizen asobi wo shita Kujō Takeko-san ni chūkoku suru’, Chūgai nippō, 8 November 1922; Fujii Sōsen, ‘Zakku baran’, Chūgai nippō, 10 April 1923.
26 Yukiko, Sakaida, ‘Shina-tsū’ sōryo Fujii Sōsen to Nitchū sensō’, Momoyamagakuin daigaku kirisutokyō ronshū, no. 52, 2017, pp. 22–23.Google Scholar
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28 Schicketanz, Erik, Daraku to fukkō no kindai Chūgoku bukkyō: Nihon bukkyō to no kaikō to sono rekishizō no kōchiku (Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 2016).Google Scholar
29 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Nisshi Seinen no koko-teki ketsugō ni tsuite Murakami Sudō-shi ni tou’, Chūgai nippō, 14 October 1933; Daxing, ‘Baishi Yinguang dashi de yinyuan ji qi yinxiang’, in Yinguang dashi yongsi ji, (ed.) Chen Hailiang, available at: https://bookgb.bfnn.org/books2/1287.htm, [last accessed 31 March 2022].
30 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Kono sai Nisshi bukkyōto teikei shi wahei undō wo yūhatsu seyo’, Chūgai nippō, 15–17 November 1932; Sōsen, Fujii, ‘Shari wa fueru’, Gendai bukkyō, vol. 10, no. 103, April 1933.Google Scholar
31 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Kinsei Shinasō no gyōji seikatsu’, Chūgai Nippō, 24 June 1933.
32 Daxing, ‘Kongguo riji’, in Daxing fashi yizhu, pp. 978, 1049–1053.
33 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Shina, Manshū no sōryo no tame hōten ni bukkyō chūgaku o mōkeyo’, Chūgai Nippō, 21 October 1933.
34 Sakaida, ‘Shina tsū’ sōryo Fujii Sōsen to Nitchū sensō’, pp. 41–46.
35 At the same time, Japan established the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Study Society ( J. Nikka bukkyō kenkyūkai), which consisted mainly of monks and Buddhist scholars from famous temples in Kyōto. The purpose of the society was to publish a journal dedicated to the study of Chinese Buddhism as well as to organize group tours to China. Mizuno Baigyō was one of the society’s members. Fujii wanted to merge the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Study Group with the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society ( J. Nikka bukkyō gakkai), arguing that their purpose was the same, but his proposal was rejected by the latter.
36 Sakaida, ‘Shina tsū’ sōryo Fujii Sōsen to Nitchūsensō’, pp. 41–46.
37 Daxing, Riben fojiao shicha ji (Shanghai: Xingyuanan, 1936), pp. 1–2.
38 Daxing, ‘Kongguo riji’, in Daxing fushi yizhu, p. 978.
39 Ibid., p. 1032.
40 Xiandai sengjia she, ‘Gao Riben fojiaotu shu’, Xiandai sengjia, vol. 4, no. 3, 15 October 1930.
41 Suiyuan (Daxing), ‘Guo lian diao cha tuan de shiming’, Xianzai fojiao, vol. 5, no. 4, 10 April 1932.
42 Sakaida Yukiko, ‘Kindai Nihon bukkyō to Chūgokujin sōryo’, Studies in East Asian Buddhism, vol. 10, February 2022, pp. 45–46.
43 Daxing, Riben fojiao shicha ji, p. 61.
44 Ibid., p. 96.
45 Daxing, ‘Guonanqi zhong sengjia yao buyao jin xiangdang de zeren’, Haichaoyin, vol. 12, no. 7, July 1936.
46 Daxing, ‘Sengzhong fu bingyi yu xunlian’, Haichaoyin, vol. 17, no. 8, August 1936.
47 Daxing, ‘Sengzhong xunlian ganyan’ and Daxing, ‘Dui diqi qu sengzhong xunlianban xueyuan shuo jiju hua’, both in Juejin zazhi, vol. 6, 15 March 1936.
48 Daxing, Riben fojiao shicha ji, pp. 165–166.
49 Yoshihiro, Ishikawa, Chūgoku kakumei to nashonarizumu (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2010), p. Google Scholar. The English quote is taken from ‘The limit of China’s endurance’, in The collected wartime messages of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek 1937–45. Vol. 1 (New York: The John Day Company, 1946).
50 Shenbao, 18 July 1937; Fohua xinwen, 29 July 1937.
51 Ishikawa, Chūgoku kakumei to nashonarizumu, p. 174.
52 ‘Kōsei na tachiba senmei ni tatsu bukkyō Meiwakai’, Yomiuri Shinbun, 30 July 1937.
53 Ishikawa, Chūgoku kakumei to nashonarizumu, pp. 176–181.
54 Yinshun (ed.), Taixu dashi nianpu (Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 1995), p. 231.
55 Ibid., pp. 235–236.
56 Beihua, ‘Tongqing lunxianqu fojiaotu de huyu’, Haichaoyin, vol. 19, no. 10, p. 484.
57 Yinshun (ed.), Taixu dashi nianpu, p. 242.
58 Fafang, , ‘Zuijin de ganxiang: Zhi Daxing fashi de yifeng xin’, Haichaoyin, vol. 18, no. 12, December 1937.Google Scholar
59 ‘Ō-shi no tai shūkyō seisaku ni ikensho teishutsu no junbi kōyū no Daisei hōshi’, Chūgai nippō, 30 March 1940; Daxing, ‘Yunshui lanjì’ (dated 30 March 1941), Dasheng, vol. 2, no. 9, 1942; Daxing, ‘Wo de ganxiang: Fu Fafang fashi de yifeng xin’, Haichaoyin, vol. 19, no. 1, January 1938.
60 Daxing, ‘Zhu dashi shou yu tongmen zhu dade tanhua’, in Huanan jueyin, no. 7; reprinted in Daxing fashi yizhu, pp. 859–861.
61 Daxing, ‘Women de shiyue’, Fohua xinwen (Chongqing), 20 April 1939; reprinted in Xijian Mingguo fojiao wenxian huibian (Beijing: Zhongguo shudian, 2008), vol. 8, p. 91.
62 ‘Ōtani-ha Fujii-shi tsume wo togu’, Chūgai nippō, 28 January 1940.
63 Sakaida, ‘Shina-tsū’ sōryo Fujii Sōsen to Nitchū sensō’, pp. 45–48.
64 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Shina jihen wo keiki ni Hokuhei bukkyō no hiyaku Chūnichi bukkyō gakkai seiritsu su’, Chūgai nippō, 26 September 1937.
65 ‘Iyoiyo kanban agaru Myōshinji Pekin betsuin Fuji Sōsen-shi ga hoshōnin’, Chūgai nippō, 12 November 1938.
66 Tahara Yukio, ‘Senka no moto de: Aru rikugun keihō ihan jiken’, in Mikawa no shinshū (Nagoya: Shinshū Ōtaniha Mikawa betsuin, 1968), p. 131.
67 Itō Kōzen, ‘Sōsen wo ou’, Bunka jihō, 14 May 1939.
68 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Nankin tokushin jihenka no Soshū Nankin ni Shinasō no shōsoku wo saguru’, Chūgai nippō, 27–28 December 1938.
69 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Chūgoku bukkyōto ni atau’, Chenzhong, no. 1, December 1939.
70 Ibid.
71 Matsutani, Nihon no Chūgoku senryō tōchi to shūkyō seisaku, p. 113.
72 Fukuda Senshō, ‘Daidō renmei shoki no hōshin ni tsuite’, in Chūshi shūkyo daidō renmei nenkan, (ed.) Chūshi shūkyo daidō renmei, November 1940.
73 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Tairiku shūkyō kōsaku’, Chūgai nippō, 27–28 January 1940.
74 ‘Ō-shi no tai shūkyō seisaku ni ikensho teishutsu no junbi kōyū no Daisei hōshi’, Chūgai nippō, 30 March 1940.
75 Daxing, ‘Yunshui lanji’.
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid.
78 The eleven-faced Guanyin is a bodhisattva (Avalokitesvara) with eleven faces.
79 Chūshi shūkyo daido renmei, Chūnichi bunka kyōkai and Nikka bukkyō renmei (eds), Zhonghua minguo sanshi nian Dongya fojiao dahui jiyao.
80 Ibid., pp. 18, 22–23.
81 ‘Tōa bukyō taikai kiroku’, Chūshī shūkyō daidō renmei geppō (publication details unknown), pp. 14–15.
82 Wang Qiming, ‘Nitchūsensō-ki ni okeru Taiwan sōtokufu no senryōchi kyōryoku ni tsuite—Amoi wo chūshin ni’, Hōgaku seijigaku ronkyū, no. 100, 2014, p. 194.
83 Hong Buren and Fang Hongling, ‘Kangzhan qijian Xiamen dashiji’, in Xiamen wenshi ziliao (Xiamen: Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Xiamenshi weiyuanhui wenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui, 1987), no. 12.
84 It is not clear why Zhang Ming advocated for meat eating and marriage among monks. Later, at the end of 1938 when the governor-general of Taiwan took notice of him, Zhang Ming left Xiamen. Seki Tomohide, Tainichi kyōryoku-sha no seiji kōsō: Nitchūsensō to sono zengo (Nagoya: Nagoya Daidaku Shuppan-kai, 2019), pp. 126–127.
85 Dongchu, Zhongguo fojiao jindaishi, vol. 2, p. 814.
86 Zhongtian, ‘Dasheng fojiao qingnianhui zhi youlai’, Dasheng, no. 1, 1939.
87 Huiyin, ‘Dasheng fojiao qingnianhui dashiji’, Dasheng no. 1, 1939. Shi Fanqi (1875–?) was born in Lukang, Taiwan. He became a councillor of the Changhua Administrative Office ( J. Shōka chō), established the Changhua Bank, and served there as a director. In 1907, he moved to Xiamen and managed many businesses between the mainland and Taiwan, such as a branch of the Japan-China Colonial Joint Stock Company ( J. Nikka shokumin gōshi kaisha) and the Nanguo Corporation. In Xiamen, he founded the Taiwanese Citizens Association and became its first president. Taiwan sōtokufu, Taiwan resshin den, 1916, p. 205; and Taiwan shinminpō sha, Taiwan jinshi kan, 1934, p. 164.
88 Jōdo shinshū honganjiha shūmushonai kaigai kaikyō yōran kankō iinkai (ed.), Kaigai kaikyō yōran, p. 231.
89 ‘Dasheng fojiaohui zhidao fangzhen’, typewritten on paper by the Japanese consul general/Kōain Liaison Office in Xiamen. There is also a handwritten draft of this document from Kanda Eun. Both items are in the private collection of Mr Kanda Masami. Since their content mentions the latter half of 1943, it can be inferred that the documents were probably created around that time.
90 Ibid.
91 Dongchu, Zhongguo fojiao jindaishi, vol. 2, pp. 814–815, 851.
92 Huiyin, ‘Dasheng fojiaohui dashiji’, Dasheng, vol. 2, no. 3, 1941, p. 51.
93 Daxing, ‘Dui Minnan foxueyuan fuxing qianqi’, Dasheng, vol. 2, no. 8, 1941.
94 Ibid.
95 ‘Minnan foxueyuan fuxing kaixue dianli lüeji’, Quanmin xinribao, 16 September 1941. Republished in Dasheng, vol. 2, no. 8, 1941.
96 Daxing, ‘Kaixue ci’, Dasheng, vol. 2, no. 8, 1941.
97 Juebin, , ‘Cong Nanputuosi guoqu zhi gaikuang shuo dao minyuan fuxing’, Dasheng, vol. 2, no. 8, 1941, pp. 40–41.Google Scholar
98 Wentao, ‘Nanputuosi yange’, Dasheng, vol. 3, no. 3, 1942.
99 ‘Bukkyōkai kessei chikau NikKa sōryo no kondankai’, Chūgai nippō, 14 November 1941.
100 Sources such as Xiamen fojiao zhi (Xiamen: Xiamen daxue chubanshe, 2006) state that Daxing left Xiamen in 1942, but this is not correct as there is no record of any specific date and time.
101 Daxing, , ‘Dui Minnan foxueyuan fuxing qianqi’, Dasheng, vol. 2, no. 8, 1941, p. .Google Scholar
102 ‘Yuanzhang laixin’ (1), Minnan foxueyuan tekan, 1943, p. 72.
103 Wentao, ‘Nan putuo si yange’, Dasheng, vol. 3, no. 3, 1942; Huiyin, ‘Dasheng fojiao hui dashiji’, Dasheng, vol. 3, no. 1–2, 1941, p. 58.
104 ‘Yuanzhang laixin’, Minnan foxueyuan tekan, 1943, pp. 72–73.
105 Daxing, ‘Yunshui lanji’, 30 March 1941; Daxing, ‘Mofan nüzi zhi yangcheng: Zai Nanjing nüzi mofan zhongxue jiang’, Minnan foxueyuan tekan, 1943, pp. 13–15.
106 ‘Jūgo man sōryo wo ichigan Chūgoku bukkyōkai wo saihensei’, Tairiku shinpō, 26 February 1943; ‘Bukkyō wa kokka, shakai, jinmin to no kankei fukashi Chūgoku bukkyōkai kesseishiki no sengen’, Chūgai Nippō, 4 July 1943; ‘Nikkaman yori nanpō he, Daitōa bukkyōto kyōkai, Daisei hōshi kessei wo yōbōsu’, Chūgai nippō, 8 September 1943.