霊場建設と日本勢力下のアジア : 日華親善楔観音奉賛会と大東亜観音讃仰会の成立=Construction of Sacred Places around Asia under Japanese Power and Establishment of Nikka-Shinzen Kusabi-Kannon Hōsankai and Daitōa Kannon Sangōkai
Hōsankai 奉賛会 or sangōkai 賛仰会 (service associations) supported the activities of Japanese Buddhist organizations. These associations had a support group that assisted religious activities and acted to achieve political objectives through war. This paper focuses on two organizations that collaborated in the construction of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Area. The first is the Nikka-Shinzen Kusabi-Kannon Hōsankai (Service Association for the Avalokiteśvara of Japan - China Friendship), which was involved with the Zōjōji temple in Tokyo and was chaired by KOISO Kuniaki of Japanese Imperial Army General. The second is the Daitōa Kannon Sangōkai (Service Association for the Avalokiteśvara of the Greater East Asia Kannon), which attended to the Sensōji Temple and was headed by OGASAWARA Naganari of the Japanese Imperial Navy Vice Admiral. These two associations planned to build temples and sacred places on pilgrimage routes, aiming at the spiritual union of Asian populations who believed in the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, a familiar figure in Mahayana Buddhism. These temples in Tokyo were founded by the service associations in collaboration with the government policy to expand the influence of Buddhism in Asia and take advantage of the religious authority and Buddhist beliefs of Japanese military officers.
