Yasukuni Shrine Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Yasukuni Shrine (靖國神社 Yasukuni Jinja; lit. "peaceful nation shrine") is a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Japan. It now is the resting place of thousands of Japanese soldiers killed between 1853 and 1945, including convicted war criminals such as Hideki Tojo and Hirota Koki. As of October 2003, its Book of Souls lists the names of 2,466,495 Japanese killed in war.
The shrine was originally constructed in June 1869 by order of the Meiji Emperor to commemorate the victims of the Boshin War. Originally named Tōkyō Shōkonsha (東京招魂社), the shrine was renamed as Yasukuni Jinja in 1879. The shrine has performed Shinto rites to house the kami (spirits) of all Japanese soldiers killed in conflict since then, as well as approximately 50,000 women and children.
After Japan's defeat in World War II in September 1945, the US-led Occupation Authorities ordered Yasukuni to either become a secular government institution, or a religious institution that is independent from the Japanese Government. Yasukuni chose the latter. Since that time, Yasukuni has been completely privately funded.
The shrine has become increasingly embroiled in controversy as a symbol of the Japanese imperialism and nationalism of the early 20th century, a controversy stirred up partly by the shrine's continuing defense of Japanese colonial acts as both necessary and justified: a pamphlet published by the shrine says "War is a really tragic thing to happen, but it was necessary in order for us to protect the independence of Japan and to prosper together with Asian neighbors." The shrine runs a museum on the military history of Japan, but neglects certain important transgressions made by the state during World War II, most notably the Nanjing Massacre. The shrine is a focal point for Japanese World War II veterans and right wing movements, and provides access to its facilities on a regular basis. The museum also contains a section on kamikaze pilots and has some interesting pieces of military hardware such as a Zero fighter.
About 1,000 POWs executed for war crimes during World War II are enshrined here. This was not a political issue back then as Yasukuni was supposed to enshrine any Japanese War casualties. However, the controversy exploded in 1978, when it was revealed that 13 Class A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, who did not engage in combat were also enshrined as "Martyrs of Showa" together with other executed POWs. The shrine has further angered many with its defiant defense of the war criminals; the same pamphlet mentioned above also claims: "Some 1,068 people, who were wrongly accused as war criminals by the Allied court, were enshrined here." The shrine's English-language website refers to those 1,068 as those "who were cruelly and unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal of the Allied forces." After the revelation of 1978, the Japanese emperor stopped paying visits to the shrine and this has remained the case ever since.
The controversial nature of the shrine has figured largely in both domestic Japanese politics and the country's relations with other countries in the region in the years since 1978. Three Japanese prime ministers have caused an uproar by visiting the shrine since then: Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1985, Ryutaro Hashimoto in 1996, and especially Junichiro Koizumi, who visited four times, in August 13, 2001, April 23, 2002, January 15, 2003 and January 1, 2004. Visits by prime ministers to the shrine generally provoke official condemnation by nations in the region, especially the People's Republic of China and South Korea, as they are seen as condoning Japan's military aggression against those nations during World War II. Visits to the shrine also are controversial in the domestic debate over the proper role of religion in government: LDP politicians insist that visits are protected by the constitutional right of the freedom of religion and that it is appropriate for government officials to pay their respects to those fallen in war. However, they refuse any proposal that a non-religious memorial be built for Japan's military dead so that those wishing to honor them do not have to go to the Yasukuni Shrine.History
Controversy