The main session was a seminar featuring a dialogue between His Eminence Otani, the Head Priest of the Gomon-shu, His Eminence Guen, the Head Priest of the Gomon-shu, and Professor Hirahara on the theme “The Wartime Generation and the Post-War Generation: Buddhism’s Responsibility for the War—Is It the Individual or the State?” The two speakers engaged in a detailed discussion regarding the Japanese Buddhist community’s collaboration with the war effort during World War II. They discussed examples such as the delivery of 50 fighter planes by the Buddhist community as a whole, the Jodo Shu sect’s large-scale fundraising campaigns, and the ideology held by Buddhist leaders at the time, who characterized the war as “the work of the gods and Buddhas” and “a divine act of human purification.” The discussion highlighted the differences in perceptions of war responsibility between the postwar generation and Generation Z, addressing the fact that young people in Generation Z have not received direct education about the war and that efforts in peace education have been declining. It also touched on opportunities for today’s youth to learn about the history of war through interactions with friends from different cultural backgrounds, raising the challenge of how to bridge the generational gap in understanding.

本会議は大谷御門主台下愚烟御門主台下と平原先生による「戦中の世代と段階の世代。仏教の戦争責任。個人なのか国家なのか」をテーマにした対談セミナーでした。両者は第二次世界大戦中の日本仏教界の戦争協力について詳しく議論し、仏教界全体で50機の戦闘機が納入された事例や、浄土宗の大規模な募金活動、当時の仏教指導者による戦争を「神仏の活動」と「人間浄化の神業」と位置づける思想について話し合いました。対談では戦後世代とZ世代の間での戦争責任の認識の違いが強調され、Z世代の若者が戦争について直接教育を受けていないことや、平和教育の取り組みが減少している点が議論されました。また、現代の若者が異なる文化圏の友人との交流を通じて戦争の歴史を学ぶ機会についても言及され、世代間の認識の断絶をどう埋めるかについての課題が提起されました。