Public Functions of Religions Developed through Social Work in The Late Meiji Era : Developments after the Sugamo Prison Chaplains Incident

メイジ　コウキ　ノ　フクシ　リョウイキ　ニ　オケル　シュウキョウ　ノ　コウキョウテキ　キノウ　スガモ　カンゴク　キョウカイシ　ジケン　ト　ソノゴ　ノ　テンカイ

イカワ, ユウガク

Ikawa, Yugaku

シュウキョウ ト シャカイ コウケン ケンキュウカイ

宗教の公共的機能

巣鴨監獄教誨師事件

留岡幸助

social work

public functions of religions

Sugamo Prison Chaplains Incident

Kosuke Tomeoka

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of the public functions of religious organizations and clergies in the formation of social work in the modern Japan. The paper focuses on the Sugamo Prison Chaplains Incident (1898), i.e., a conflict between Buddhists and Christian Kousuke Tomeoka over the status of chaplains. At that time, prisons were being improved and modernized against the backdrop of revising the treaties with the Western countries. The Incident was triggered during negotiations between the Japanese government officials and the Buddhist and Christian chaplains. The Incident prompted an opportunity for the religious organizations and clergies to initiate their engagements in social works, a new public function of religion in the late Meiji era.