Meiji Jingū

Timeline

1. 1640

   Becomes Ii Lower Residence

   In the early Edo period the site, previously the outer residence of the Katō daimyo of Higo-Kumamoto, passes to the Ii daimyo of Hikone as their lower residence in Edo

2. 1874

   South Toyoshima Imperial Estate

   Meiji 7: the Meiji government purchases the site from the Ii family, designating it the South Toyoshima Imperial Estate, frequently visited by Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken as an iris garden

3. July 1912

   Emperor Meiji dies

   Meiji 45, July 30: Emperor Meiji passes away. By August a civic committee led by Shibusawa Eiichi and Sakatani Yoshirō publishes a memorandum proposing the founding of a memorial shrine

4. 1915

   Founding proclaimed

   Taishō 4, May 1: the founding of Meiji Jingū is officially proclaimed; on October 7 of the same year the inner precinct groundbreaking ceremony is held and construction to Itō Chūta's design begins

5. 1919

   Youth corps volunteer labor begins

   Postwar labor shortages after World War I lead to nationwide youth corps being organized for volunteer construction work; by the end of 1922 over 100,000 youths have served

6. November 1920

   Enshrinement ceremony

   Taishō 9, November 1: the enshrinement ceremony takes place, drawing over half a million worshippers in a single day in a crush so dense that the distribution of amulets is suspended

7. 1926

   Outer Garden dedicated

   Taishō 15, October: the Outer Garden's dedication ceremony is held in conjunction with the completion of the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery; its 80 murals are fully installed by April 1936

8. April 1945

   Destroyed in air raids

   Shōwa 20, April 14: the main hall is destroyed in the predawn Tokyo air raids, though the divine spirits had been transferred to the treasure storehouse (air-raid shelter) and were preserved

9. 1958

   Postwar reconstruction

   Shōwa 33, October: reconstruction funded by public donations is completed; the present main hall dates from this period, faithfully reproducing the prewar design

10. 1975

    Grand torii rebuilt

    The 12-meter grand torii at the south approach is rebuilt from 1,500-year-old cypress harvested at Alishan in Taiwan — among the largest wooden torii standing in Japan

11. October 2019

    Meiji Jingū Museum opens

    Reiwa 1, October: the Meiji Jingū Museum, designed by Kengo Kuma, opens ahead of the centenary, displaying personal effects and artifacts of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken

12. November 2020

    Centenary

    Reiwa 2, November 1: the shrine marks the centenary of its founding; amid the COVID-19 pandemic the principal ceremonies are conducted on a reduced scale in quiet observance

Detailed History

Meiji Jingū was conceived in the aftermath of Emperor Meiji's death on July 30, 1912, born of a movement to memorialize the Meiji era with a Tokyo monument. On August 12 of that same year, a civic committee led by Shibusawa Eiichi and Tokyo Mayor Sakatani Yoshirō issued a memorandum proposing a shrine consisting of an Inner Garden (Naien) built with state funds and an Outer Garden (Gaien) funded by public donations, with the inner precinct at Yoyogi Imperial Estate and the outer at the Aoyama Parade Ground. The House of Peers adopted the Tokyo petition in February 1913, and the Yoyogi site was confirmed in February 1914. The founding was officially proclaimed on May 1, 1915, and the groundbreaking ceremony followed on October 7. The site itself had deep history: an outer residence of the Katō daimyo of Higo-Kumamoto in early Edo, it passed to the Ii of Hikone from 1640, was purchased by the Meiji government in 1874 as the South Toyoshima Imperial Estate, and was often visited by Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken as an iris garden. Construction was managed by the Meiji Jingū Construction Bureau under the Home Ministry, with the outer precinct funded by public contributions of 6.76 million yen, well above the original 4.95 million target. From 1919, under the ideal of a 'shrine of the people,' youth corps from across Japan were organized for volunteer labor; over 100,000 had served by the end of 1922. More than 100,000 donated trees were planted, and Itō Chūta's main hall rose in nagare-zukuri style with timbers shipped from Kiso in Nagano and Alishan in Taiwan, then a Japanese territory. The enshrinement ceremony of November 3, 1920 drew over half a million worshippers in a single day, a crush so dense that amulet distribution had to be suspended. The Outer Garden's dedication followed in October 1926 with the completion of the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery; its 80 murals were fully installed by April 1936. In the predawn hours of April 14, 1945, the main hall was destroyed in the Tokyo air raids, though the spirits had been moved to the treasure storehouse and preserved. Reconstruction funded by public donations was completed in October 1958. With the 1946 revision of the Religious Corporation Ordinance, the shrine was reconstituted under Jinja Honchō, and continues as Tokyo's spiritual heart, hosting hatsumōde, grand festivals, and martial arts dedications.

Cultural Significance

Meiji Jingū stands as one of the foremost monuments of modern Japan's nation-building era, a first-rank reference in both modern religious history and urban planning history. The ideal of a 'shrine of the people,' realized through donations of 100,000 trees and the labor of over 100,000 youth corps volunteers, makes its construction a symbolic example of participatory public works in modern Japan. The main hall is registered as an Important Cultural Property, evaluated as the architectural culmination of the modern Shinto shrine, scaling up the traditional nagare-zukuri form. The Outer Garden's integrated layout — combining the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery, the National Stadium, Jingū baseball Stadium, and Chichibunomiya Rugby Ground — represents a singular fusion of shrine precinct and modern urban planning, blending sacred and civic functions unprecedented in prewar Japan. The forest itself, designed by foresters Honda Seiroku, Hongō Takatoku, and Uehara Keiji as a 'forest of eternity,' was scientifically planned to transition from pine and cedar toward an evergreen broadleaf climax through natural succession — a landmark in modern forestry still studied today. More recently, the 2023 Outer Garden redevelopment plan, calling for felling some 3,000 trees, has drawn warnings of 'irreversible destruction of cultural heritage' from ICOMOS.

Architectural Details

The main hall of Meiji Jingū, designed by Itō Chūta, is a large-scale shrine building in the nagare-zukuri style with a cypress-bark roof and Japanese hinoki cypress as its primary timber. The original was destroyed in the 1945 air raids, so the present building is the October 1958 reconstruction, faithfully reproducing the prewar design and specifications. The precinct comprises an Inner Garden (Naien) and an Outer Garden (Gaien), with the inner precinct approached from three directions — the south, north, and west approaches — that converge at the main hall. The grand torii at the south approach, at 12 meters one of the largest wooden torii in Japan, was rebuilt in 1975 from 1,500-year-old hinoki cypress harvested at Alishan in Taiwan, with pillars 1.2 meters in diameter. The grounds as a whole were planned by Honda Seiroku, Hongō Takatoku, and Uehara Keiji as a 'forest of eternity,' with vegetation designed to transition through natural succession from an initial planting dominated by pine and cedar toward an evergreen broadleaf climax community. Today some 120,000 trees of 365 species compose the forest, forming the ecological core of central Tokyo. The Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery in the Outer Garden is a reinforced-concrete dome that houses 80 large murals depicting the lives of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken — a treasury of modern Japanese mural painting.