Yasukuni War Shrine

Tokyo's Yasukuni Jinja shrine is a national shrine and the largest war shrine in Japan. Established in 1869 by Emperor Meiji, this Shinto shrine commemorates the kami (spirits) of Japanese soldiers, women and students who died serving Japan during all the wars the country has been involved in.

The shrine lists 2,466,532 names, origins, dates of birth and, as far as known, places of death of those who died during the Boshin War of 1868-1869, the Sino-Japanese wars of 1894-1895 and 1937-1945 respectively, World War II (2,133,915 names) and finally the First Indochinese War of 1946-1954, among others.

The names include those of convicted World War II war criminals including those of the most serious category. This has led-and regularly still leads-to controversy.

There is also a monument in the Dogs (main hall) of the shrine honouring victims from other countries who fought in the service of Japan. Several other monuments and museums of a continuing nationalist character are also located around the shrine.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Robin Denker (1, 2, 3, 4, 6), Wikimedia Commons (5), Christian Nieuwenhuize (7, 8)
• - History?Yasukuni Jinja