Yasukuni Shrine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Yasukuni Shrine - Research Paper Example Since 1970s these visits have sparked controversy and for many to see respect being paid to Class A war criminals of World War 2 is being considered very offensive to the nations that face the aggression of the Imperial Japan. With Japan’s former Prime Minister Koizumi visiting the shrine, this controversy has been given new life and limelight (Okuyama 2009) The Yasukani Shrine is one of the most controversial shrines in the world. It is a Shinto Shrine that is situated in the Chiyoda district in the capital of Japan, Tokyo. The reason for its controversy is that this shrine was built as a dedication to all the Japanese Soldiers who died fighting in World War 2 on the orders of the Emperor of Japan (Yasukuni Shrine 2008). The Symbolic Registry of Divinities has listed about 2460000 men and women who died for the Imperial Japan. The souls that are enshrined here include all of those who have served the interest of the Imperial Japan since the year 1983. This will include the na tional crisis like the Boshin War, Seinan war and also wars with other countries like Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars. The most controversial aspect of this shrine is that it also has the souls of soldiers who were killed during the active duty during the World Wars (Yasukuni Shrine 2008).... This location was chosen by Meiji Emporer. It was first established to help commemorate the men and women who had died in the Boshin War that resulted in the power restoration of the Meiji. The shrine is among the many that were built under the government sanction Shinto program throughout Japan. Since 1879 the shrine has been named as the Yasukuni Jinja (Ponsonby-Fane 1963; Yasukuni Shrine 2008). It has now become the principal shrine to commemorate the dead who have sacrificed their lives for Japan and its interest. When World War 2 ended, the United States and the Occupation Authorities issued what is now called the Shinto Directive. This directive ensured that the state and the religion was separated in Japan. This obviously had an impact on the Yasukuni Shrine. It was pressurized that either the shrine be declared a religious institution that will not be dependent on the Government or it can itself become a secular government institution. It was then decided by the general masse s that the shine will become a private institution that will be privately funded. Since the year 1946 the shrine has been operating privately (Tetsuya 2008). There is no person buried in the Shrine. This is of the essence as only the souls are enshrined here. There are no ashes, graves or bones of any soldiers here. The priests here only perform purification traditions for the souls of the dead. So the issue arose from the fact that there are many souls enshrined here that are considered to be World War 2 criminals. This enshrinement started in 1959 by the enshrining of 1068 souls that were either Class B or Class C criminals and were declared so before their execution by the tribunals of the Allied Forces. Then in 1978 the kami of fourteen soldiers was