Controversies Surrounding Yasukuni Shrine - War Criminals

War Criminals

The shrine enshrines and, according to Shinto beliefs, provides a permanent residence for the spirits of those who have fought on behalf of the emperor, regardless of whether they died in combat. 1,068 of the enshrined kami were POWs convicted of some level of war crime after World War II. Enshrinement typically carries absolution of earthly deeds even for those convicted at the IMTFE court.

One of the criteria for enshrinement at Yasukuni is that a person be listed as having died while on duty (including death from illness or disease) in the war dead registry of the Japanese government. According to documents released on 28 March 2007 by the National Diet Library of Japan, Health and Welfare Ministry officials and Yasukuni representatives agreed during a meeting, on 31 January 1969, that Class-A war criminals judged at the Tokyo Trial were "able to be honored" as decided by the Shrine Priests and decided not to make public the idea that Yasukuni would enshrine those that were IMTFE criminals.

On 17 October 1978, 14 Class A war criminals (convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East), including Hideki Tōjō, were enshrined as "Martyrs of Shōwa" (昭和殉難者 Shōwa junnansha), ostensibly because they were on the war dead registry. They are listed below, according to their sentences:

• Death by hanging:

  Hideki Tōjō, Seishirō Itagaki, Heitarō Kimura, Kenji Doihara, Akira Mutō, Kōki Hirota

• Lifetime imprisonment:

  Yoshijirō Umezu, Kuniaki Koiso, Hiranuma Kiichirō, Toshio Shiratori

• 20-year imprisonment:

  Shigenori Tōgō

• Died before a judicial decision was reached (due to illness or disease):

  Osami Nagano, Yosuke Matsuoka

All imprisoned war criminals had commuted sentences, or released by 1958.

The enshrinement was revealed to the media on April 19, 1979, and a controversy started in 1985 which continues to this day.