從軍布教師; 佐佐木珍龍; 台灣宗教調查第一回; 台灣島布教法; 本末關係寺院; missionaries in the army; Sasaki, Chinryu; the first investigative report on religion in Taiwan; Missionary Methods for the Isand of Taiwan; temples affiliated with one school
The missionary work of the Soto School in Taiwan is part of the history of Taiwanese Buddhism under Japanese colonial rule. Basing herselfon historical records like the Soto School's School Report which was published from 1897 on, the Report on Religion in Taiwan dating from 1896, te History of Overseas Missionary Activities of the Soto School etc. the present author probes into the religious activities of the Japanese Soto School in Taiwan between 1895 and 1935.
The 40 years covered here saw subjection to Japanese rule, disurbances caused by armed resistance against the new overlords, suppression and pacification on the side of the authorities, and gradual reversion to a stable social order. The Soto School's missionary activity continuously tried to adapt its course to all these changes as is evidenced by the Missionary Methods for Taiwan, a 1929 revision of the Missionary Regulations for the Taiwan Island dating from 1986. missionary work, of course, began with Sasaki Chinryu's Invesigative Report on Religion in Taiwan which was completed on August 3, 1896. As to its missionary enterprise, the Soto School absorbed and utilized existing Buddhist facilities before it developed its own resources, bought land, built temples, and established an organization which was under the supervision of its Branch Temple in Taipei. Emphasizing the principle of spreading the teaching through education, schools for the national language were established in many places in the early period, followed by the Taiwanese Buddhist High School in 1918. These efforts led to the training of a great numer of capable people.
