This dissertation reevaluates the dynamic relationship between Japanese and Korean Buddhism from 1877 to 1912. Conventional scholarship has tended to view this relationship in political terms, using frameworks of nationalism versus imperialism/colonialism, or resistance versus collaboration. The thesis of this dissertation is that Japanese Buddhist missionaries were equally motivated to advance their own sects' interests, at times in conflict with the state's intentions. Likewise, Korean Buddhist monks were less concerned with Korea's political future than they were with protecting and furthering their own personal and institutional needs. Korean monks allied with Japanese priests to draw on the priests' political and social influence, while Japanese missionaries worked to bring Korean Buddhism under the administration of their own sects. Japanese priests and Korean monks shifted strategies according to changes in the political and religious landscape: the growth of Christianity, Japan's wars, and Japan's annexation of Korea. The governments administrating Korea sought to gain control of Japanese missionaries, Korean Buddhism, and their relationship by issuing regulations in 1902, 1906, and 1911.

To understand the intricacies of this period, this dissertation revisits the merger attempted by the Japanese Sotoshu sect and the Korean Wo njong organization in 1910. It examines the underlying motivations of the priest Takeda Hanshi, who acted on behalf of the Sotoshu, by drawing on his treatise Enshu rokuteiron. This treatise, as well as his other writings, show that Takeda, a staunch imperialist, prioritized advancing the Sotoshu. This case also shows how Yi Hoekwang, the Wo njong's head monk, sought to use the Sotoshu's political power to influence state authorities to officially recognize Korean Buddhism. The colonial government, frustrated by the disorder caused by this and other alliances and by sectarianism, promulgated the 1911 Temple Ordinance, effectively ending institutional contact between the two Buddhisms. This dissertation seeks to complexify the historiography of this period. By using primary sources from both Korea and Japan, this study emphasizes the significance of Japanese sectarianism and the agency of Korean Buddhists. It shows that Japanese Buddhists, by sharing methods in education, institutionalization, and propagation, played a significant part in the modern transformation of Korean Buddhism.