Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Yasukuni-jinja
༃ࠃਆࣾ
• Entrance off Yasukuni-dōri • 24hr • Free •
W
www.yasukuni.or.jp • Kudanshita station
A monumental red steel
torii
, claimed to be Japan's tallest, marks the entrance to
Yasukuni-jinja
. This shrine, whose name means “for the repose of the country”, was
founded in 1869 to worship supporters of the emperor killed in the run-up to the
Meiji Restoration. Since then it has expanded to include the legions sacrificed in
subsequent wars, in total nearly 2.5 million souls, of whom some two million died
in the Pacific War alone; the parting words of kamikaze pilots were said to be “see you
at Yasukuni”.
Every year some eight million Japanese visit this controversial shrine (see box below).
Standing at the end of a long avenue lined with cherry and ginkgo trees and accessed
through a simple wooden gate, the architecture is classic Shinto styling, solid and
unadorned except for two gold imperial chrysanthemums embossed on the main doors.
If this is all surprisingly unassuming, the same cannot be said for a couple of menacing
black lanterns near the entrance, whose distinctive Rising Sun-like patterns are most
evident at dusk.
1
Yūshūkan
Daily 9am-5pm • ¥800 •
T
03 3261 8326
To the right of the Inner Shrine you'll find the
Yūshūkan
, a military museum
established in 1882. The displays are well presented, with plentiful information in
English, but the problem is as much what is left out as what is included. Events such
as the Nanking Massacre (“Incident” in Japanese) and other atrocities by Japanese
troops are glossed over, while the Pacific War is presented as a war of liberation, freeing
the peoples of Southeast Asia from Western colonialism. The most moving displays are
the ranks of faded photographs and the “bride dolls” donated by the families of young
soldiers who died before they were married. You exit through a hall full of military
hardware, including a replica of the gliders used by kamikaze pilots on their suicide
missions, its nose elongated to carry a 1200-kilo bomb, while a spine-chilling, black
kaiten
(manned torpedo) lours to one side.
The garden
Before leaving the complex, walk through the little Japanese
garden
lying behind the
shrine buildings. The sunken enclosure next door is the venue for a sumo tournament
during the shrine's spring festival, when top wrestlers perform under trees laden with
cherry blossom. In early July the shrine also hosts a lively
matsuri
, when the precincts
are illuminated by thousands of paper lanterns and there's dancing, parades and
music nightly.
THE PROBLEM WITH YASUKUNI
Ever since its foundation as part of a Shinto revival promoting the new emperor,
Yasukuni-jinja
has been a place of high controversy. In its early years the shrine became a
natural focus for the increasingly aggressive nationalism that ultimately took Japan to war
in 1941. Then, in 1978, General Tōjō, prime minister during World War II, and thirteen other
“Class A” war criminals were enshrined here, to be honoured along with all the other
military dead. Japan's neighbours, still smarting from their treatment by the Japanese
during the war, were outraged.
This has not stopped top politicians from visiting Yasukuni on the anniversary of Japan's
defeat in World War II (August 15). Because Japan's postwar constitution requires the
separation of state and religion, ministers have usually maintained that they attend as private
individuals, but in 1985 Nakasone, in typically uncompromising mood, caused an uproar when
he signed the visitors' book as “Prime Minister”. Recent PMs have continued to visit Yasukuni
- always in an “uno
cial” capacity - despite continued protests both at home and abroad.
