In the Edo period, once the study of ancient Japanese thought, classics, and Shinto became popular under the view point of criticizing beliefs from overseas like Confucianism and Buddhism, the belief of Shinkoku was widely accepted, it developed the principle of excluding foreigners in the face of pressure from Western ships coming to Japan in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, the movement of "Revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians" (19th century slogan advocating reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of the barbarians or foreigners) was established which caused of the fall of the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun).
江戸時代には儒教や仏教などの外来思想に批判的な立場から古典や神道を研究する国学が盛んになると、神国思想もまた広く受け入れられるようになり、それが幕末の黒船来航などの外的圧力の増大とともに攘夷論へと発展し、尊王攘夷運動が展開されてやがて江戸幕府滅亡の原因となった。