Nagasaki Gokoku Shrine

Nagasaki Gokoku Shrine
長崎縣護國神社
Religion
Affiliation	Shinto
Type	Gokoku shrine (Formerly Shokonsha)
Glossary of Shinto

Nagasaki Gokoku Shrine is a shrine in Nagasaki, Japan. It's a Gokoku Shrine and it's dedicated to the spirits of around 60,000 people from Nagasaki Prefecture.^[1][2] These people died between the Meiji Restoration and World War II.

The shrine was started in 1869 in Nagasaki's Umegasaki area. At that time, it was called the Nagasaki Shokonsha and it was built to remember the 43 samurais who died in the Boshin War. In 1874, another shrine called Saku Shokonsha was founded in the Nishi-shima area of Nagasaki. This new shrine was built in memory of 536 people who died in the Taiwan Expedition.

Later on, the two shrines joined together and became the Nagasaki Gokoku Shrine in 1942. The shrine buildings were completed in 1944, but in August 1945, all of them were destroyed during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

The Sako Shokonsha Shrine (Umegasaki Tenno-miya Shrine) was temporarily relocated at the former Sako Shokonsha Shrine. The shrine was rebuilt in October 1963 and has been designated as a National Important Cultural Property. The shrine celebrates two annual festivals on April 22 and October 26.The shrine is a Gokoku Shrine, which means it's a shrine that's dedicated to the dead from wars. These shrines were created to honor the war dead and were considered "branches" of Yasukuni Shrine. In 1939, they were renamed from Shokonsha.^[3]

• Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine