In this episode, I speak with Brian Daizen Victoria—Sōtō Zen priest, historian, and author of Zen Terror in Prewar Japan—to uncover a disturbing and often deliberately forgotten chapter in Buddhist history. We explore how Zen, far from being the purely peaceful tradition many imagine, became entangled with ultranationalism and domestic terrorism in 1930s Japan. Along the way, we dive headfirst into one of the most controversial questions in modern Japanese history: Was Emperor Hirohito responsible for Japan’s war crimes? Listen and judge for yourself.

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Thanks for listening, traveler of the ear. Yoroshiku. And rockets. 🚀