Kume affair

The Kume affair (久米邦武筆禍事件) refers to the controversial forced resignation of Kume Kunitake from the University of Tokyo in Japan during the Meiji Era (1868 - 1912). The controversy was centered around Kunitake's analysis of historic documents retracing the mythological foundation of Japan. In the October 1891 edition of Shigaku zasshi, he argued that Shinto is an outdated religious belief; an assertion that shook the Meiji establishment, whose State Shinto was based in the divine origin of the emperor.