Gokoku shrines
Japanese shrines for war dead
A Gokoku shrine (Japanese: 護国神社, romanized: Gokokujinja, lit. 'national defense shrines') is a shrine dedicated to the spirit of those who died for the nation. They were renamed from Shōkonsha (招魂社) in 1939 (Showa 14). Before World War II, they were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, but after World War II they are administered by an independent religious corporation. Designated Gokoku Shrines were built in prefectures except Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture. The main deities are war dead from the prefecture or those who are related to them, as well as self-defense officers, police officers, firefighters, and others killed in the line of duty.
Such shrines were made to serve to enshrine the war dead, and they were all considered "branches" of Yasukuni Shrine. They were originally called Shokonsha but renamed to Gokoku shrines in 1939.
They are considered the Japanese equivalent of the Martyrs' shrines of other Asian cultures.
History
The Chōshū Domain and Satsuma Domain in the Bakumatsu era established a place for the spirits of the martyrs and war dead of national affairs, and held a ceremony to honor them. The Royal court also held a Satsuma Domain ceremony to honor the spirits of the martyrs and war dead in 1868 June 29 (10 May, Keio 4), in accordance with the Dajokanbunsho, Article 385 refers to 1853 (Kaei 6).
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This entry incorporates text from “Gokoku shrines” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.