The main building of Yasukuni Shrine

The Yasukuni Shrine (靖國神社 Yasukuni Jinja; lit. "peaceful nation shrine") is a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Japan. As of October 2003, its Book of Souls lists the names of 2,466,495 Japanese and former colonial soldiers (mostly forced Korean and Taiwanese) killed in war.

History

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 Yasukuni Jinja in 1879. The shrine has performed Shinto rites to house the kami (spirits) of all Japanese and former colonial soldiers (Korean and Taiwanese) killed in conflict since then.

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.

Kami

The following is a count of enshired kami (formally 祭神 saishin, counted as 柱 hashira)) at the Yasukuni Shrine.

• Boshin War (Civil War, 1867-68): 7,751
• Southwest War (Civil War, 1877): 6,971
• Taiwan Expedition (Suppression of Taiwan rebellions against Japanese occupation, 1874): 1,130
• Sino-Japanese War (Invasion of China, 1894-95): 13,619
• Beiqing Insident (Invasion of China, 1901): 1,256
• Russo-Japanese War (Conflict with Russia and invasion of China and Korea, 1904-05): 88,429
• World War I (Invasion of China and Mongolia, 1914-18): 4,850
• Tsi-nan Insident (Invasion of China, 1928): 185
• Mukden Incident (Invasion of Manchuria, 1931): 17,176
• Marco Polo Bridge Incident (Invasion of China, 1937-1945): 191,243
• World War II (Conflict with United States and Soviet Union and invasion of China, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Korea and other parts of Asia): 2,133,885

Controversy

In the People's Republic of China and South Korea, the shrine has become embroiled in controversy as a symbol of Japanese Militarism of the World War II, and a symbolic center of Japanese right-wing nationalism.

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." In others, the shrine runs a museum on the history of Japan, commemorating the soldiers who fought for Japan, remembering them as Kami (gods),and the English website claims that "Japan’s dream of building a Great East Asia was necessitated by history and it was sought after by the countries of Asia." The shrine also points to atrocities committed by the Allied forces, such as the sinking of the Tsushima Maru, a transport ship torpedoed and sunk by the Allied forces leading to the deaths over 1500 people, of which 700 were elementary school children. Therefore, Japan seems to have justified the war of aggression in their eyes.

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 all Japanese War casualties. However, on October 17, 1978, 13 Class A war criminals (according to the judgement of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East), including Hideki Tojo, were quietly enshrined as "Martyrs of Showa" (昭和殉難者 Shōwa junnansha). They are among the gods that rest peacefully in the shrine, with other heros who fought for Japan. When revealed to the media on April 19, 1979, this started a controversy which rages to this day. 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 1979, the Emperor of Japan stopped paying visits to the shrine and this has remained the case ever since. However there are also strong voices amongst the people of Japan in support of the visits [1], including Governor of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara, who on August 15, 2004, indicated his strong hope for the Emperor to once again start paying visits to the shrine.

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 see such action as the the attempt to legitimise Japanese militarism. 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.

Most Japanese who visit the shrine see it as an act of remembrance and not reverence, with Prime Minister Koizumi stating that his controversial visits are to ensure that there will be no further wars involving Japan.

To date, China has been the most vocal critic of the shrine. Many Japanese see a cultural difference involved. Although the Japanese and Chinese take similar view that a person's crime(s) is absolved after death, most Chinese view visiting the shrine by government officials as an attempt to legitimise Japanese Militarism, and the official support of right-wing nationalism. While the neighbouring countires are trying to criticise the Koizumi's actions, Koizumi, in an attempt to divert criticisms to the dead, has said: "Why keep blaming the dead for the crimes they committed when they were alive?".

Current affairs

The Shrine announced that the official website has been under Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack from Chinese domain since September 2004 (Announcement in Japanese). Therefore users may find it difficult to access the website.

Further Reading

• Breen, John. "The dead and the living in the land of peace: a sociology of the Yasukuni shrine". Mortality 9, 1 (February 2004): 76-93.

• Nelson, John. "Social Memory as Ritual Practice: Commemorating Spirits of the Military Dead at Yasukuni Shinto Shrine". Journal of Asian Studies 62, 2 (May 2003): 445-467.

For more about Yasukuni's controversy, see:

• Ijiri, Hidenori. “Sino-Japanese Controversies since the 1972 Diplomatic Normalization”. China Quarterly 124 (Dec 1990): 639-661.

• Yang, Daqing. “Mirror for the future of the history card? Understanding the ‘history problem’” in Chinese-Japanese Relations in the Twenty-first Century: Complementarity and Conflict, edited by Marie Söderberg, 10-31. New York, NY: Routledge, 2002.

See Also

• Shinto
• Shinto music
• Jinja (shrine)
• Japanese Buddhism
• Japanese nationalism
• List of Shinto shrines

External link

• Yasukuni Shrine
• A feature from The Japan Times on the chief priest of Yasukuni and his views of PM visits