Yasukuni Shrine

Not far from the Imperial Palace visitors will find one of the most controversial sites in Japan. The Yasukuni Shrine, depending on whom you ask, is either a place to remember and show respect for the sacrifices of the nation’s fallen soldiers, or a last stronghold for the regional arrogance and aggression of Imperial Japan.

Built in 1869, Yasukuni Shrine is not especially old. The name means “to pacify the nation,” and it was one of several similar shrines intended to honor those who had died in the Emperor’s service. The first kami, or spirits, enshrined at Yasukuni were those of Imperial forces who had died in the Boshin War. Forces that had fought for the Tokugawa were barred from enshrinement, as were the warriors of the Satsuma Rebellion, breeding resentment in both Fukushima and Kagoshima prefectures that lingers into the present. The Shrine was the scene of huge celebrations following the Russo-Japanese war, and in the decades leading up to the Second World War, Yasukuni was simultaneously a powerful symbol of devotion to the Emperor and a rallying point for the strengthening military. The Shrine appeared in literature, propaganda, and popular song and even, according to some reports, in a widely played children’s board game of the era.

After the war, Occupation Forces enforcing the separation of state and religion under the Shinto Directive offered Yasukuni the option of becoming a secular governmental entity, or an independent religious body with no support from the state. The Shrine took the latter route, and has since had no formal relationship with the Japanese government, despite ongoing calls by several groups for state funding.

The kami of Yasukuni are regarded by Shinto as protector deities of the Japanese nation, and according to the Shrine’s Book of Souls presently number about two and a half million. Among these are the spirits of some 50,000 Taiwanese and Koreans, as well as more than a thousand convicted war criminals. The focal point of the controversy, however, is the enshrinements of 12 Class A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, and 2 suspected Class A criminals. New names are added each year, though no one who died after the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty is eligible for enshrinement.

Enshrinements are made unilaterally by the Shrine’s administrators, without outside consultation or even, necessarily, notification of surviving family. Over the years, a number of people have asked that their family members be removed from the Shrine’s lists, mainly Japanese Christians and non-Japanese. In 2005, for example, a group of Taiwanese representing nine aboriginal tribes arrived at Yasukuni to peacefully request that the souls of their enshrined ancestors be returned to them. The group was met by a mob of Japanese ultranationalists and Japanese police who refused to allow the Taiwanese off their buses.

The enshrinement of the Class A war criminals was performed secretly in 1978, the story only breaking days later. This has proved to be the Shrine’s most controversial move, leading to widespread anger throughout East Asia that has not abated. Another source of contention is Shrine visits by politicians, particularly Prime Ministers, which are regarded in some circles as violations of the separation of state and religion. Interestingly, Emperor Hirohito himself, who had visited Yasukuni Shrine twenty times, ceased all visits after the war criminal enshrinements, and documents released in 2006 confirmed his displeasure with the Shrine’s move. His son Akihito, the present Emperor, has never visited the Shrine.

It must be remembered that most Japanese visitors to Yasukuni Shrine come without any political agenda, seeking only to show their respect to the dead in the same way that people visit war memorials in any other country. And not all non-Japanese visitors come in a spirit of protest. In 2007 former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui visited the Shrine to pay respects to an older brother enshrined there. The vast majority of those enshrined at Yasukuni were raised to believe that loyal service to the Emperor and the nation was the highest goal to which one might aspire. For the descendants of many of these soldiers, the controversy surrounding the shrine is confusing and hurtful. For some the lack of state support for the Shrine is a betrayal of an entire generation of patriots who were taught from childhood the glories of dying with honor in the service of the nation, and who famously bade farewell to one another with the words, “I’ll meet you at Yasukuni.”

Matt Mangham

3-1-1 Kudan Kita, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Ichigaya/Iidabashi station====(10 min. on foot)====Yasukuni Shrine

Open Hours:
December - February: 6:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
March, April, September, October: 6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
May - August: 6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Yasukuni Shrine: http://www.yasukuni.or.jp/english/index.html