On a recent trip to Japan I was privileged to visit the famous Yushukan shrine in Tokyo.
Despite the busy schedule on this six-day tour of Isuzu in Tokyo sponsored by Carpenters Motors, Isuzu and Ace Creations (a company that exports Isuzu products to Fiji) earlier this month, I was taken to this museum by the staff members of Ace Creations for sightseeing on my final day in Tokyo.
I was told five million people visited the shrine every year since it was now known as a central institution for commemorating those who died in wars.
Next to the shrine stands the Yushukan, a museum that commemorates and documents Japan’s war history
All around the shrine grounds grow hundreds of cherry trees including Tokyo’s representative cherry tree that is used by the meteorological agency to pronounce the official opening of the blossoms in the city.
The two main objectives of the Yushukan shrine — Japan’s oldest museum — are to honour the war heroes who gave their lives for their country and to make clear the truth about modern Japanese military history.
Yasukuni Jinja was founded as a Shinto shrine in 1869 for the worship of the divine spirits of those who sacrificed themselves for their country.
In World War II, many members of suicide attack corps and other Japanese soldiers referred to Yasukuni (meaning “peaceful country” in Japanese) as the place where they would meet their families and fellow soldiers after their death in battle.
Yasukuni Jinja occupies a large plot of land in central Tokyo and has several buildings, including the main shrine and the Yushukan.
The Yushukan summarises Japan’s military history and displays related items starting with the Meiji Restoration, the Satsuma Rebellion, and the founding of the Yasukuni Jinja in the 1860s.
The museum also has a few exhibits related to the Samurai spirit and Japan’s military traditions prior to the 1860s.
After the addition of a new building and a complete renovation in 2002, the two-floor museum now has two large exhibition halls with 20 exhibition galleries, two theatres, and two special exhibition galleries.
Yasukuni Jinja is also the centre of controversy between Japan and its Asian neighbours China and Korea.
The shrine serves as a symbol of Japanese colonialism and nationalism, and visits by Japanese prime ministers to Yasukuni remind Asian countries that Japan has been slow to apologise for wartime atrocities and to publish school textbooks that give a balanced history of the war.
About 2.5 million spirits of individuals who sacrificed themselves for Japan are worshipped at the shrine.
This museum, according to its records, was established in Meiji 15 (1882) and today stores up to 100,000 articles including many pieces of paintings, works of art, armours and weapons.
“Yushu”, the name of this museum, means to associate with and to learn from high-principled people.
Each article in this museum is filled with the wish of predecessors who named this museum Yushukan.
The origin of Yasukuni Shrine is Shokonsha established at Kudan in Tokyo in the second year of the Meiji era (1869) by the will of Emperor Meiji. In 1879, it was renamed Yasukuni Shrine.
According to records when the Emperor Meiji visited Tokyo Shokonsha for the first time on January 27, 1874, he composed a poem:
“I assure those of you who fought and died for your country that your names will live forever at this shrine in Musashino”.
So you see Yasukuni Shrine was established to commemorate and honour the achievement of those who dedicated their precious lives for their country.
Today more than 2,466,000 divinities are enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine.
These are souls of men who made ultimate sacrifice for their nation since 1853 during national crisis such as the Boshin War, the Seinan War, the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, World War I, the Manchurian Incident, the China Incident and the Greater East Asian War (World War II).
These people, regardless of rank, are considered to be completely equal and worshipped as venerable divinities of Yasukuni according to the Yasukuni Shrine website.
Japanese people believe their respect to and awe of the deceased is best expressed by treating the dead in the same manner as they were alive.
At Yasukuni Shrine, rituals to offer meals and to dedicate words of appreciation to the dead are repeated every day.
This includes those that give water to dogs and horses in their appreciation of these animals’ roles in war.
Twice every year in spring and autumn major rituals are conducted where occasion offerings from the emperor are dedicated to them, and also attended by members of the imperial family.
Yasukuni Shrine is indeed a place of reflection and no wonder five million people visit annually to get that feeling of closure or to continue to reunite with their loved ones in death in the hope that there will be life at the end of it all…on that final day of resurrection.
