YASUKUNI SHRINE, Garden Tour

The garden of cherry trees opposite the shrine leads into a very large area with numerous points of interest.

The most important, which you’ll find just after the Noh theater, is the Yashukan Military Museum, containing artifacts and documents connected with Japanese military activity from the beginning of the Meiji period until the end of the Second World War. The museum, which has free entry, was founded in 1882, and is the oldest military museum in Japan. In the two-story building, visitors can admire a fighter plane, a steam locomotive and mementos of soldiers killed in battle, such as letters sent from the front line. On the second floor is a theater that shows documentaries about the shrine and about Japan.

Next to the museum are the temple archives, in front of which you can see a monument dedicated to women and children, while on the other side are three statues in honor of the horses, dogs and carrier pigeons killed during the war.

If you continue to the back of the courtyard, passing by a small parking area, you’ll see, on your left, a Japanese Sumo wrestling ring....