Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is well known for being controversial. It honors the spirits of the war dead, and in doing so, includes a number of known war criminals. When visiting there are often people outside the shrine entrances protesting and handing out literature in several languages explaining the problem.
"A walk through a third, smaller, torii brings you to the main hall and the main shrine, where more the spirits, kami, of approximately 2.5 million dead soldiers and civilians, who lost their lives during military conflicts from the Boshin War (which brought about the Meiji Restoration) up to World War II, are enshrined. The controversy around Yasukuni Shrine comes from the enshrinement in 1959 of a thousand class-B and C war criminals from World War II and the subsequent enshrinement, in 1978, of fourteen class-A war criminals. Furthermore, despite calls from the international community for the "removal" of some war criminals from the shrine the shrine priesthood maintain that, owing to the shrine’s tradition of enshrining all kami within a single seat, "removal" is impossible." (http://en.japantravel.com/view/yasukuni-shrine0)
But the protesters were gone and the air was celebratory when we visited during the Mitama (Soul of the dead) Festival. The entire walk to the shrine was lines with rows and rows of lanterns. Many events take place over the four days of the festival. The night we visited we saw thousands of lanterns, musical performances, dancing, marching bands, processions with portable shrines and did I mention, lots of lanterns?
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| It was still early, but people were streaming in towards the shrine |
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| A mikoshi, or portable shrine |
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| Lanterns lining the walk |
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| Lots of lanterns |
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| Everything was decorated |
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| Lanterns and decorations hanging from the gate |
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| I did say there were a lot of lanterns, right? |
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| Taiko performance |
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| Small lanterns, too |
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| The shrine itself |
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| In case you forgot there were lanterns..... |
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| Looking back towards the entrance |
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| People made circles around the dancers and joined in |
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| Lots of people were in kimono |
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| It was very festive |
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| Marching band leading the procession |
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| Drummers |
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| Here come the mikoshi |
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| They don't just walk by they are dancing and moving it up and down |
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| It was just starting to get dark as we left |
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| It must be quite a sight in the dark |
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| Obligatory photo to prove I was really there |
I stopped by the next day during the day to get my shrine book signed and while the massive crowds were gone, there were still a lot of people and events going on. I caught part of a performance and got a closer look at some of the lanterns and art work that were up. It was worth the visit.
Wow!
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