<P> After the Sengoku period of war, Japan was re-united in the Azuchi--Momoyama period . This decreased the power of Buddhism, which had become a strong political and military force in Japan . Neo-Confucianism and Shinto gained influence at the expense of Buddhism, which came under strict state control . Japan closed itself off to the rest of the world . The only traders to be allowed were Dutchmen admitted to the island of Dejima . </P> <P> New doctrines and methods were not to be introduced, nor were new temples and schools . The only exception was the Ōbaku lineage, which was introduced in the 17th century during the Edo period by Ingen, a Chinese monk . Ingen had been a member of the Linji school, the Chinese equivalent of Rinzai, which had developed separately from the Japanese branch for hundreds of years . Thus, when Ingen journeyed to Japan following the fall of the Ming dynasty to the Manchu people, his teachings were seen as a separate school . The Ōbaku school was named after Mount Huangbo (Chinese: 黄檗 山; pinyin: Huángbò shān; Japanese pronunciation: Ōbaku san), which had been Ingen's home in China . Also notable during the period was the publication of an exceptionally high quality reprint of the Ming - era Tripiṭaka by Tetsugen Doko, a renowned master of the Ōbaku school . </P> <P> With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the new government adopted a strong anti-Buddhist attitude, and a movement to eradicate Buddhism and bring Shinto to ascendancy arose throughout the country due to the strong connections of Buddhism to the Shōguns . </P> <P> During the Meiji period (1868--1912), after a coup in 1868, Japan abandoned its feudal system and opened up to Western modernism . Shinto became the state religion . Within the Buddhist establishment the Western world was seen as a threat as well as a challenge to stand up to . Buddhist institutions had a simple choice: adapt or perish . Rinzai and Soto Zen chose to adapt, trying to modernize Zen in accord with Western insights, while simultaneously maintaining a Japanese identity . Other schools, and Buddhism in general, simply saw their influence wane . The edict of April 1872 ended the status of the Buddhist precepts as state law and allowed monks to marry and to eat meat . This "codification of a secularized lifestyle for the monk coupled with the revival of the emperor system and development of State Shinto were fundamental in desacralizing Buddhism and pushing it to the margins of society". </P>

Who played the largest role in the spread of buddhism