| Summary: | 博士 === 國立成功大學 === 歷史學系碩博士班 === 98 === The Japanese government had been integrated Buddhism into its nationalism since the Meiji Reform in terms of the Imperial Buddhism. The policy continued to apply to the colonial Taiwan. In this dissertation, I divided the fifty-one years of the relationship between Japanese and Taiwanese Buddhism under the Japanese rule into three periods：（1）from 1896 to 1915：mutual-understanding and affiliation；（2）from 1915 to 1931：cooperation and development；（3）from 1931 to 1945，reform and the transformation into Japanese Imperialism.
The Japanese Buddhist priests arrived in Taiwan with their army and started their missionary work. In the beginning，they had encountered various challenges. After the 1915 Riot (Xi Lai An Incident), the Taiwanese Buddhist leaders began to organize the “Islanders Religious Association” in order to seek the official recognition from the government. This group included members from the lay Buddhist vegetarian society. The colonial government also started the island-round religious registration, leading to the cooperation between the two sides. During this period of time, Taiwanese Buddhist temples registered under the Japanese schools as an associated member.
The Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1931 that lasted for fifteen years had speeded up the control of Buddhism in Taiwan by the colonial Japanese government. Consequently, the Japanese colonial government forced Taiwanese Buddhists to revitalize the so-called national spirit, i.e., being the loyal offspring of Japanese Emperor, by organizing respective associations, such as the Revival of Tribes in 1932, the Social Education Society in 1934, and the Movement of Transforming Old Customs on of Old Custom in 1935,the Movement of Spiritual Mobilization in 1937, and so on. The continuous movement in researching and registering Taiwanese temples under the martial law all led to the transformation of Taiwanese Buddhism into the Imperial Buddhism.
Key terms:
The Imperial Buddhism;Japanese Colonialism;Taiwan Buddhism;the researching and registering Taiwanese temples
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