Yasukuni Shrine is a major Shinto shrine in Japan honoring the dead of the Imperial Japanese Army from the Sino-Japanese War (1899) to World War II. Established in 1869 in Kudanshita in Tokyo, the shrine encompasses gardens, a shrine, and a museum of the Imperial Army. It is marked by a giant torii (ceremonial gate), one of the largest in Japan. The shrine's major festival, Mitama Matsuri, is celebrated around mid-July. The shrine was initially established to commemorate and venerate the dead of the Boshin Civil War, in which the new Imperial Army defeated rebellious feudal han (clans) during the Meiji Restoration (1868–1912). It is controversial largely because of its association with the militaristic period of the Japanese imperial past. The shrine is not supported by public funds because of constitutional prohibitions. Many conservative Japanese feel in consequence that their war dead are not properly honored. Moreover, the clause separating state from church in the constitution can be interpreted, and has been interpreted, to mean that national political figures, such as the prime minister, are forbidden from attending rituals at Yasukuni Shrine in their official capacity. As a result, ministers have attended Yasukuni memorial rituals only in their capacity as private citizens.
Further Reading
Safier, Joshua. (1996) "Yasukuni Shrine and the Constraints on the Discourses of Nationalism in Twentieth-Century Japan." M.A. thesis. University of Kansas.
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