Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo
The Yasukuni Shrine (Yasukuni Jinja; "peaceful nation shrine") is a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, built in 1869 to house the kami of Japanese war dead. Soldiers were promised that if they died in war, their souls would be venerated here. Currrently, the shrine's Book of Souls lists the names of some 2.5 million Japanese and former colonial soldiers killed on the battlefield.
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, 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.
In recent years, Yasukuni Shrine has been at the center of controversy related to Japanese militarism, especially with regard to its enshrinement of Japanese soldiers convicted in Allied courts as war criminals. Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to the site have been sharply criticized by China and Korea as political statements justifying Japanese militarism and war crimes. But the prime minister has continued to visit the site, saying, "Why keep blaming the dead for the crimes they committed when they were alive?"
