YASUKUNI SHRINE

Description

Essentials about the Yasukuni Shrine in brief

Translated, Yasukuni Shrine means “Shrine of the Peaceful Land” – a somewhat euphemistic description of its purpose. After all, the shrine was established to commemorate Japanese soldiers who have fallen since the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Today, the Yasukuni Shrine honors some 2.5 million soldiers, most of whom lost their lives in World War II. Politically highly problematic is the fact that among those honored at the shrine are also more than a dozen war criminals. Those who visit the shrine should therefore study its history and political significance in advance.

The history of the Yasukuni Shrine

The Yasukuni Shrine was founded in 1869 under the name Tōkyō Shōkonsha (Tokyo Shrine for Summoning the Spirits of the Dead) in the Chiyoda district immediately north of the Imperial Palace in the new capital of Tokyo. It is still located in the same place today. The shrine was intended to commemorate all war dead as kami and “heroic souls” who had fought on the imperial side in the restoration turmoil.

The shrine was later expanded to include the dead from other conflicts, such as the Japanese punitive expedition to Taiwan in 1874. In 1879, the Tennō designated it as Bekkaku kanpeisha (Imperial Shrine of Special Class) and gave it the name “Yasukuni” with the meaning “I did it to pacify the country.”

From the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, in the event of a declaration of war, it was ritually read to the dead at the Yasukuni Shrine. Likewise, the peace agreement was ritually recited to the spirits in an official state ceremony. The shrine served as the backdrop of mass military events, such as the victorious invasion after the war against Russia or the Army Day on April 30, established in 1907.

Due to the separation of state and religion decreed in Japan’s postwar constitution as part of the abolition of the State Shintō, the shrine had to be either secularized or released from state sponsorship. It chose the latter and today has status as an independent religious body. The demand repeatedly raised by conservative circles to elevate the Yasukuni Shrine to the status of a national memorial is so far still opposed by the Japanese constitution. Nevertheless, it is visited every year by about six million Japanese, mainly by bereaved families, influential veterans’ associations, but also by nationalist and right-wing extremist groups.

The Yasukuni Shrine as an object of political controversy

Few other places in Japan are as politically controversial as the Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine honors the nearly 2.5 million Japanese soldiers who lost their lives for emperor and fatherland in the country’s wars since the Meiji Restoration in 1868. With more than 2 million dead, most of them fell in World War II.

Incidentally, no dead are buried on the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine. Rather, the names of the fallen are kept in the main hall in what is called a “register of souls” – as “kami,” supernatural beings in Shintoism, a widespread religion in Japan. These revered kami include a number of convicted Japanese war criminals of World War II. In 1948, they were found guilty of “crimes against world peace” by the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo.

In 1978, the private foundation that became the shrine’s sponsor at the end of the war secretly added the names of 14 indicted war criminals to the register of souls. Since the foundation’s move became public in 1979, Emperor Hirohito refrained from his hitherto customary annual visit to the shrine. Under no circumstances do Japan’s neighboring countries such as China and South Korea, which had suffered greatly in the wars against Japan, want to accept that convicted war criminals be treated as venerable spirits. They protest against any visit to Yasukuni by Japanese politicians.

The Yushukan Museum

The Yushukan Museum is also located on the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine. Founded in 1882, the museum claims to be the oldest military museum in Japan. The exhibition at the Yushukan Museum revolves around the souls of Japanese soldiers who fell for their country in the wars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weapons and military equipment of the Japanese army are also on display.