The Mitama Festival

How Yasukuni Shrine Honors the Dead

All things considered, Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine is an interesting place. Originally founded by the Meiji emperor, the shrine was first established in 1869 following the conclusion of the Boshin War. Since its inception, Yasukuni Shrine has been dedicated to those who have served in Japan’s military. It is currently home to 2,466,532 men, women, and children as well as various pets.

The shrine continues to pop up on the international radar due to the fact that among the millions enshrined at Yasukuni, there are over a thousand war criminals from World War II. In particular, 14 of these have been identified as “Class-A” offenders and include notorious figures such as Tojo Hideki who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor. As such whenever a prominent Japanese politician visits Yasukuni Shrine there are bound to be hostile media conflagrations in the foreign press.

Regardless of where you may fall on the issue, the shrine has a stunningly beautiful summer festival known as the Mitama Festival. Held every year in mid-July at the beginning of Tokyo’s Obon season, the festival is famous for the 30,000 chochin (Japanese lanterns) that adorn the walkway leading up to the main shrine. First celebrated in 1947, the purpose of the festival is to pray to the war dead and give thanks for the lasting peace and…