Yasukuni Shrine

Yasukuni Shrine (Yasukuni Jinja) is a Shinto shrine located at Kudanzaka in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, originally one of a series of shokonsha (spirit-inviting shrines) established by Emperor Meiji. It enshrines military personnel and civilian employees who died in Japan's wars since the Meiji Restoration, most of them officers and soldiers killed in the Russo-Japanese War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Pacific War, which has made it the subject of considerable controversy from different perspectives. From Emperor Meiji through Emperor Showa, Yasukuni was one of the few shrines besides Ise Grand Shrine at which the Emperor of Japan would bow.