Pod Insights Stuff You Missed in History Class Emperor Meiji and the Meiji Jingu Shrine About this episode Emperor Meiji of Japan’s reign began in 1867, and it marks a time of significant change in the country’s history. After the emperor and his consort died in the early 20th century, the Meiji Jingu shrine was built to memorialize them.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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2:14 Holly Frey? Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeart Radio.
2:25 Holly Frey? Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frey.
2:28 Tracy V. Wilson? And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.
2:30 Holly Frey? Uh, I just got back from Japan.
2:32 Tracy V. Wilson? You did.
2:34 Holly Frey? Where I was a little longer than planned due to some travel delays, but that's fine. It's a lovely place. Uh, and we visited some sites. I was there for a Star Wars convention and then we tacked on additional days to do other things. And I will confess that I did not, because I was kind of scrambling to make sure we had enough of this show's episodes and the other shows I work on all in the can. I did very little planning for this trip. So I was like, whatever y'all want to do. I went with my husband and my best friend and I let them pick the itinerary, which was actually great. Um, and we went to a lot of cool places. Listen,
3:13 Holly Frey? you may recall that when we traveled internationally, my husband is ever on the lookout for was a John Wick filmed here.
3:23 Holly Frey? And then we go. Uh, but in this, and we did do that in Japan, but one of the things that my best friend picked was visiting the Meiji Jingu Shrine, which was very, very cool. Um, and it was kind of funny because as we were walking along, there's quite a long walk to get from the, the city street into the shrine, this beautiful walk. We'll talk about it a little at the end. And we were discussing how old it was or was not. And of course I am ever like, hey, we have magic boxes in our pockets. Why don't we look this up? And we were all surprised that it was much newer than we thought. So, uh, because it doesn't feel new at all. Uh, and I was like, this is fascinating and I want to talk about the
4:05 Holly Frey? whole story of this, uh, which means that we have to talk about Emperor Meiji, which is also just an interesting story about an important and transitional part of Japan's history.
4:14 Tracy V. Wilson? Yeah.
4:15 Holly Frey? I'm not a Japanese or Asian studies scholar, but I have sure read a lot of books and I had a 14 hour plane ride back to do some of that.
4:26 Holly Frey? So and in one case, you know, I'm just going to make direct quotes because it involves spiritual things that I would feel uncomfortable trying to parse.
4:35 Tracy V. Wilson? Right.
4:36 Holly Frey? Not having been a part of it in any way ever, except for this visit to this shrine. So that's what's up and we're going to talk about this little part of Japan's history.
4:46 Tracy V. Wilson? Yeah. So to talk about the Meiji Jingu Shrine, we first need to talk about who Emperor Meiji was. Emperor Meiji's reign began in 1867. Of course, this is going to be an incredibly abbreviated version of that whole reign. We could not talk about the entirety of it in an episode. Meiji is the name he took as emperor. He was born Wutohito on November 3rd, 1852. He was the second son of the preceding Emperor Komei. Komei's first son had died in infancy. During Komei's reign, the emperor had largely been a figurehead and Japan was
5:28 Tracy V. Wilson? mainly governed by the Tokugawa shogunate. It was during the time of Komei that Japan, which had been mostly closed to foreigners, particularly foreigners from outside of Asia for about 250 years, was opened up more under Commodore Matthew Perry's arrival and request. He showed up, sort of a famous story at this point, backed up by a show of naval power. So at that point, the country opened its ports to the US. The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed on March 31st of 1854. And while it was not a commercial treaty, it was really lopsided in favor of the United States. It made it possible for the US to make more
6:13 Tracy V. Wilson? financially strategic moves with Japan.
6:17 Holly Frey? So when Emperor Komei died in 1867, 14-year-old Meiji inherited the throne of a nation that was already in the midst of a great deal of change, both externally on the world stage, but also internally as its identity was evolving as a result of those external changes and exposure to new influences. Komei had not been in favor of modernizing to align with Western ideologies.
6:46 Holly Frey? Including the dissolution of the shogunate and feudal ruling structure, but his son Meiji favored modernization and he made a lot of changes to Japan's governmental organization. And though he was emperor from the time his father died, it wasn't until 1868, when the last Tokugawa shogun resigned after a bit of a power struggle, that the role of emperor was actually seen as head of the country. This important change and the taking of the name Meiji by the emperor is known as the Meiji Restoration, and it also signaled a lot more massive changes ahead.
7:24 Tracy V. Wilson? So there were a lot of reasons that a lot of people in Japan opposed these kinds of changes, and it's pretty easy from our Western perspective to boil this down in such a way that it makes it seem like the like pre-modernization age was primitive or backwards. And there are a lot of Western texts that seem to want to frame it in this way. But Japan had a really complex structure of governance and it was incredibly stable for a long time. Writing for the journal Southeast Asian Studies in 1995, Hisao Furukawa explained, quote, "Under its seclusionist policy, Japan had achieved a balance among its disparate types of leadership: the imperial court, the nobility,
8:09 Tracy V. Wilson? and the shogun. Under the shogunate-land system of shared government, which rested on a rice-stipend system, the clans functioned rather like 100 or more self-supporting companies, competing economically with each other. A controlling organization of shogunate, daimyo, and clan executives, samurai, village headmen, and nago, servant peasants, ran a complicated and subtle administrative organization. Not only commercial capital, but also industrial capital was sufficiently available."
8:45 Tracy V. Wilson? So thinking about this stability, it becomes more apparent why there would be some consternation and resistance to adopting practices and ideas from Western culture.
8:56 Holly Frey? In 1868, the young Emperor Meiji made a number of big changes. And one was that Edo was renamed Tokyo, which means eastern capital. And the imperial residence was moved there. Kyoto had been the imperial capital up to that point, but the move to Tokyo meant that the capital city, which sits on Tokyo Bay, which opens out into the Pacific Ocean, had a better position as an international shipping port. Another change was that he enacted the Charter Oath of Five Principles, written by a young group of samurai, sometimes called the Meiji oligarchs, who had fought to overthrow the Shogunate. And these principles were designed to westernize and modernize the country
9:40 Holly Frey? and really make it a player on the global stage. This was a short document, and it reads in its entirety as follows. Quote, "By this oath, we set up as our aim the establishment of the national wheel on a broad basis and the framing of a constitution and laws. One, deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by public discussion. Two, all classes, high and low, shall unite in vigorously carrying out the administration of affairs of state. Three, the common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall each be allowed to pursue his own calling so that there may be no discontent.
10:23 Holly Frey? Four, evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws of nature. Five, knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule."
10:38 Tracy V. Wilson? So two things. We just mentioned that a group of samurai wrote that document, not the emperor, not even one of his close advisers. And that's indicative of how his reign played out. He ruled in a sort of indirect way with a lot of input from various sectors. Second, if that language in the charter sounds kind of nebulous to you, you are not alone. It was two people in Japan at the time as well. It promises freedoms to the people, but it was also carefully crafted to ensure that restrictions could still be laid out. And the fourth point in particular offered some leeway. Quote, "Evil customs of the past are not clearly defined,
11:20 Tracy V. Wilson? and neither was what would or would not be considered OK according to the, quote, 'just laws of nature.'" And there were restrictions. Political parties were not allowed, nor was rioting to protest the government.
11:35 Holly Frey? Yeah, I didn't put it in the outline, but that phrase about being according to the just laws of nature fall very much in line with what we'll talk about in a bit, which was making Shinto the national religion. And in reaction to the new government, which was seen as being led by a bunch of young upstarts, which it really was compared to the country's prior leadership, there was a conflict which came to be known as the Bo-shin War or the Bo-shin Civil War. The name Bo-shin refers to the year that the war started. And this war, which had a lot of other influences and a long lead up, could certainly be its own episode. But in terms of Meiji's rule, the conflict lasted a year and a half, and it reflected the turmoil of the nation and a lot of fear about Japan
12:20 Holly Frey? losing that stability it had enjoyed for centuries. Ultimately, the Shogunate was defeated. In 1871, the feudal system was abolished completely.
12:33 Holly Frey? The massive nature of this shift cannot be overstated. It changed a seven-century practice of feudal domains run by local daimyo into a prefecture system that rolled up under the umbrella of the country's central government. But though the Meiji government got rid of the feudal system, it was not as though the entire previous organizational structure and its leadership was just thrown out entirely. In many cases, the feudal lords who had been in power became governors under this new structure. And there were still efforts to create new forces that were hoping to push back on the Meiji government. So there was ongoing conflict and ongoing efforts to be like, let's reverse things and go back to the old way.
13:17 Holly Frey? And that led to ongoing concerns about rebellions and possible added civil wars as the transition known as the Meiji Reformation played out.
13:25 Tracy V. Wilson? Coming up, we'll talk about some additional changes to life in Japan during the Meiji period. But first, we will pause for a sponsor break.
13:37 Speaker 05 First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this?
13:39 Holly Frey? Hey, everybody. It's Tracy from Stuff You Missed in History Class. That's Alan Goya, a planning engineer at AT&T. He's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, defining the fan's experience. And Alan's master plan made it all possible.
14:00 Speaker 05 It was could rival anything that was already built. And that takes quite a bit of people and different teams to all be on the same page.
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14:37 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. Tune in for season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a Ruby Studio production in partnership with Argenx. Hosted by public health and policy expert Dr. Martine Hackett, Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition pushes the conversation within the rare disease community forward. Featuring guests living with MG, CIDP, myositis, SMA, and other rare autoimmune conditions, each episode explores hope, progress, and connection. How does research create new opportunities? How do shared experiences help light the way forward? How do we
15:21 Holly Frey? best show up for each other? Tune in to find out. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
15:35 Speaker 03 That sound? That's the National Squash League. Pro teams, the world's best players, and rallies so fast you'll forget to breathe. Season four is in full swing, and every match streams free on YouTube. Big hits, bigger rivalries, and a front row seat from wherever you are. Watch every match for free on YouTube. Search National Squash League and hit subscribe or follow live updates on Instagram at NSL.Sport.
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16:39 Holly Frey? The Meiji period, named for its progressive emperor, saw other massive shifts in the way Japan was run. As we mention each of these, just know that, just like the transition from the shogunate system, none of these were universally accepted or instantly implemented, and they all have their own very bumpy stories. A new school system was established in 1872 through the Education System Order. And this plan created a national standardization for education, and it made education universal throughout Japan, so that all children would receive an education and the population overall would see an increase in intellectual understanding and pursuits.
17:21 Tracy V. Wilson? In addition to education for all, the government sought to equalize the nation by declaring that the class system that had so long determined the course of the country was no longer in play. All classes were considered equal. The samurai, who had already lost their status in this change, were also banned from carrying their swords. Soon, many men who had been part of the samurai class started seeking out new professions. A national army was established in 1872 with a conscription requirement that meant that all men, regardless of class, had to serve for three years. Again, not everyone liked these changes.
18:05 Tracy V. Wilson? While a lot of citizens saw an increase in their standing, others lost theirs in an effort to equalize, and samurai in particular felt like the rug had really been pulled out from under them.
18:18 Holly Frey? Yeah, there's a lot of complexity and nuance to that because there were samurai that wanted the shogunate system changed and eradicated, but it wasn't like they were like, "And we'll get rid of all of it." Like, there's more nuance to it.
18:32 Tracy V. Wilson? I feel like we have talked about the transition from the samurai class to an army before, and I could not tell you which episode that was in.
18:40 Holly Frey? I don't know either. But another massive reform came in the form of taxation. So taxation was not a new concept in Japan, but as we referenced in the passage that Tracy read earlier, prior to Meiji's term as emperor, most of those taxes were paid in rice by the landowners who grew it. Taxation on other items was paid in cash, but an estimated 90% of the people of Japan were involved in growing rice in the 19th century. So the rice tax was the dominant part of the economy. Rice was and still is incredibly culturally significant and even sacred.
19:21 Holly Frey? So this was an important transition, not just from a logistical sense of providing food for the country, but also as a community gesture, providing for one another with a resource that was cultivated and tended by the people. Rice also had become a signifier of success and wealth. A man with a full grain store was considered rich. And the plant was used beyond its food possibilities. There were parts of it used to create mats, to make paste, et cetera. So people were all in on this whole system that for a very long time had been about, how much rice do you have? And how much rice do we pay so that everyone in the country eats? And that was all changing.
20:04 Tracy V. Wilson? The land tax reform law of 1873 changed this entire system by moving it to a cash-based system with tax rates based on land holdings. The intention was that this new system would get rid of inconsistencies that had been part of the feudal system, with different regions having completely different rates and different collection practices. And it was also intended to, once again, modernize the country. Everyone in the developed world used cash and to make deals with other countries, rice had to be sold or converted. But with cash taxation, money was going directly into the government's holdings, and that
20:47 Tracy V. Wilson? could be leveraged for national growth and development projects. Unfortunately, this tax was really difficult for the farmers of Japan. And although it was revised to try to help the situation, agricultural communities really continued to struggle.
21:03 Holly Frey? Yeah, if you're using one currency and that has been your currency and you are essentially making that currency, and then people go, no, no, we need different currency that you don't necessarily have on hand and have not built up any kind of store of, that's a really difficult shift.
21:20 Tracy V. Wilson? And we've talked about that shift in other parts of the world, too, when people who didn't generally have access to currency were suddenly expected to pay things in currency.
21:30 Holly Frey? Yeah, it's like, it's like if tomorrow, everyone said in the US, "By the way, we're only accepting pudding as payment." Like, you didn't get a hold of pudding, but it would just be such an odd and different way of handling it that it would be very, very difficult, even if you had access to pudding. I know that's a weird comparison, but that's, that's the best I can do at the moment. So, a cabinet style of government was also adopted under Meiji in 1885. This was not the first reorganization of government under Meiji's rule, but it became a significant and more lasting system designed to get rid of many of the inefficiencies of prior structures.
22:11 Holly Frey? So, the cabinet established the role of prime minister, who reports directly to the emperor, and multiple ministers of state, who report to the prime minister. This government was further refined in the Meiji Constitution, which was created in 1889. And that new constitution called for the establishment of a bicameral parliament in addition to the prime minister and cabinet of ministers. It also gave command of the country's military forces to the emperor. They had not really had huge military forces before this, they were being built up. In 1891, the bicameral legislature called for in the constitution, known as the Diet, was officially established.
22:52 Holly Frey? The House of Peers, the upper house, consisted of officials who were appointed to their positions, while the lower house of representatives was made up of elected officials.
23:02 Tracy V. Wilson? In addition to all of these and other reforms, Emperor Meiji, using the national army that was established early in his time, made Japan a significant military presence on the world stage. And the first major example of this was the first Sino-Japanese War, which started in 1894. China had long had a presence in Korea, and Korea was not part of China, but was subordinate to this larger nation. Korea was made dependent on China for a lot, in a lot of ways, for centuries. But as Japan westernized, it also started to take a more active interest in Korean resources.
23:44 Tracy V. Wilson? As Japan industrialized, its leaders started to realize they could get things like coal and iron from Korea, which was nearby, rather than from farther away resources. So- From Japan's perspective, Korea offered a lot of economic possibility. Just as the United States had kind of forced Japan's hand in the mid 1800s move to open Japan's ports to North American trade, Japan made a similar move in Korea, and Japan also urged Korea to kind of get out from under China's shadow when it came to relationships with other countries, specifically its relationship with Japan.
24:27 Holly Frey? The very abbreviated version of what happened next is that Japan's involvement in Korea's status led to a division within Korea, and China supported the groups that wanted Japan to mind its business. In 1884, this led to an attempted coup in Korea, known as the Gapsin coup, with China stepping in to stop it and ensure the safety of the Korean monarch. The conflict did not escalate to war because China and Japan signed an agreement that they would both get their troops out of Korea. But 10 years later, the leader of that 1884 coup, Kim Ok-kyun, who was still in support of a Korean relationship with Japan,
25:09 Holly Frey? was assassinated, quartered, and his body was publicly displayed to deter anyone else from joining the pro-Japan movement within Korea. Soon, China had moved troops into Korea again to quell rebellions that sprang up in the wake of this assassination, and Japan, noting that this was a violation of their 1884 agreement, sent its own troops in response. The war ran from August 1894 to March 1895, and in that time, Japanese forces had bested the Chinese forces at sea and had invaded China on land. Chinese leadership finally asked for an end to the war and in the Treaty of
25:52 Holly Frey? Shimonoseki gave Korea its independence from China, ceded Taiwan and other territory to Japan, opened its ports to Japanese trade, and agreed to pay a steep indemnity to Japan.
26:06 Tracy V. Wilson? But after another decade, Japan's interest in Korea once again led to war, this time with Russia. There is another parallel here as well. Russia had moved into Manchuria following the lease of the modern day port of Lushun, China, which was called Port Arthur at the time. Japan was not pleased with this and Russia eventually agreed to withdraw military forces from Manchuria after Japan made it clear that their presence there was perceived as a problem. But Russia did not withdraw troops, so Japan launched a surprise attack of Port Arthur on February 8, 1904. This started an 18-month conflict that overlapped
26:51 Tracy V. Wilson? with the 1905 revolution in Russia, leaving that country stretched really thin, not in a good position to engage with Japan. Eventually, President Theodore Roosevelt got involved to negotiate a treaty. That agreement, the Treaty of Portsmouth, was signed on September 5 of 1905, and Roosevelt would later receive a Nobel Peace Prize for this effort.
27:15 Holly Frey? Emperor Meiji's government was not done with plans for Korea, though. The result of the Russo-Japanese War was that Japan got control over the China Sea, which gave the country total access to Korea. In 1910, Japan began colonial rule of Korea after the signing of the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty. This treaty, which was controversial then and has continued to be controversial since, even after it has been revoked, begins with a proclamation that makes it sound like Korea is a big mess and that Japan is somehow doing the country a favor by stepping in. It's a lot to read, but I want to include the whole thing because it's,
27:57 Holly Frey? the language is really, really, to me, kind of startling. Quote, "Notwithstanding the earnest and laborious work of reforms in the administration of Korea, in which the governments of Japan and Korea have been engaged for more than four years, since the conclusion of the Agreement of 1905, the existing system of government in that country has not proved entirely equal to the duty of preserving public order and tranquility. And in addition, the spirit of suspicion and misgiving dominates the whole peninsula. In order to maintain peace and stability in Korea, to promote the prosperity and welfare of Koreans, and at the same time to ensure the safety and repose of foreign residents,
28:40 Holly Frey? it has been made abundantly clear that fundamental changes in the actual regime of government are absolutely essential. The governments of Japan and Korea, being convinced of the urgent necessity of introducing reforms responsive to the requirements of the situation, and of furnishing sufficient guarantee for the future, have, with the approval of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of Korea, concluded through their plenipotentiaries a treaty providing for complete annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan. By virtue of that important act, which shall take effect on its promulgation on August 29, 1910, the Imperial Government of Japan shall undertake
29:25 Holly Frey? the entire government and administration of Korea."
29:29 Tracy V. Wilson? The first article of the treaty states, quote, "His Majesty the Emperor of Korea makes the complete and permanent cession to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of all rights of sovereignty over the whole of Korea." And then the rest lays out various ways that the Emperor of Japan will govern Korea. There's also one article that reads, quote, "The government of Japan will, so far as circumstances permit, employ in the public service of Japan and Korea those Koreans who accept the new regime loyally and in good faith, and who are duly qualified for such service." There is obviously a whole history with Japan and Korea.
30:15 Tracy V. Wilson? Much of it deeply upsetting.
30:17 Holly Frey? Yeah.
30:18 Tracy V. Wilson? Following this.
30:19 Holly Frey? Yes.
30:20 Tracy V. Wilson? And in some cases before this too, but like following this especially.
30:24 Holly Frey? Yeah, that whole idea of loyalty is going to come up here in a moment and we're going to get to the shrine soon. But first, we will hear from the sponsors that keep the show going.
30:38 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. Tune in for season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a Ruby Studio production in partnership with Argenx. Hosted by public health and policy expert Dr. Martine Hackett, Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition pushes the conversation within the rare disease community forward. Featuring guests living with MG, CIDP, myositis, SMA, and other rare autoimmune conditions, each episode explores hope, progress, and connection. How does research create new opportunities? How do shared experiences help light the way forward? How do we best show up for each other? Tune
31:23 Holly Frey? in to find out. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
31:35 Speaker 03 That sound? That's the National Squash League. Pro teams, the world's best players, and rallies so fast you'll forget to breathe. Season four is in full swing and every match streams free on YouTube. Big hits, bigger rivalries, and a front row seat from wherever you are. Watch every match for free on YouTube. Search National Squash League and hit subscribe or follow live updates on Instagram at NSL.Sport.
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33:34 Holly Frey? While the Meiji Restoration began with a sort of promise of equality for all, as it evolved in the 45 years of the emperor's reign, the focus started to become one of nationalist pride and the necessity of devotion to the emperor. This shift had started with the reforms of education and taxation that sought to make the people of the country more prepared for a new era engaging with the rest of the world. But even in those early reforms, it also included a lot of requirements of loyalty to the emperor. And as Japan fought and won in military conflicts with major global powers, that sense of nationalism really crept in.
34:18 Tracy V. Wilson? Emperor Meiji died in Tokyo on July 30, 1912. His consort Empress Shoken died two years after that. They were entombed outside of Kyoto, but the Diet through a resolution established a plan to memorialize Meiji and his empress and to enshrine their kami, which is sort of like their spiritual essence, in Tokyo. The site was chosen because it was, at the time, a park that featured an iris garden that the couple really loved. This park was built on land that had been part of a daimyo's holdings in the era prior to the Meiji governmental restructuring.
35:01 Tracy V. Wilson? And it was taken by the government in Meiji's time to be turned into the Yoyogi Imperial Garden. It was at Meiji's order that the iris garden be planted in the park to delight Empress Shoken because irises were her favorite flower.
35:18 Holly Frey? Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken are important figures because they were the first modern imperial rulers of Japan. But as we've mentioned, Meiji was not operating as the final word in Japan's government, or even always as the primary decision maker in the changes that the country underwent during his time. But he represents the moment of modernization and a new age of Japanese identity. And though many of the reforms enacted during his reign had really problematic consequences later on, including some of the issues with Korea that Tracy and I had referenced just a moment ago, he was still recognized as ushering in a lot of significant change and
35:59 Holly Frey? bringing Japan out of isolationist thinking and into the global community.
36:05 Tracy V. Wilson? Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine, which makes sense as Shinto was made the state religion during the Meiji reign. We would never in any way consider ourselves experts on Shinto. So as an explainer, we are quoting from the Meiji Jingu website. Quote, "Shinto is Japan's ancient, original religion, and it is deeply rooted in the way of Japanese life. Shinto has no founder, no holy book, and not even the concept of religious conversion. But Shinto places value in harmony with nature and virtues such as "mago koro," sincere heart. In Shinto, something divine is regarded as kami, divine spirit, and it is believed that
36:49 Tracy V. Wilson? there is an unlimited number of kami. Kami can be found in mythology, in nature, and in human beings. From ancient times, Japanese have felt awe and gratitude towards such kami and enshrined them to Shinto shrines."
37:06 Tracy V. Wilson? Shinto is such a part of Japanese culture that it almost transcends the idea of religion and becomes a more cultural practice. Writing for the Yale Forum for Religion and Ecology, Rosemarie Bernard noted, quote, "It is impossible to consider the topic of Shinto and ecology without making reference to the broader issue of Japanese cultural attitudes to the natural environment. This is because what one might describe as Shinto beliefs are often values that are entrenched in Japanese folk culture in general and which find expression in other areas beyond religion, from sociopolitical organization to aesthetics and so on."
37:47 Holly Frey? So, the setup of the park and the shrine is really incredible for a number of reasons. So, for one, it offers this almost surreal, complete sense of isolation and serenity, even though it is right in the middle of the city, just steps from Harajuku Station. It's about a 10-minute walk from the station to the entrance to the park. Once you enter the park area, which is far larger than the original park, it's about 173 acres in size, you are completely surrounded by trees as you make your way to the shrine's torii gates, which separate the secular part of the grounds from the sacred section. And before you pass through the final gate, you pass through a font called the tamazuya,
38:31 Holly Frey? where you wash your hands and rinse your mouth with water to be purified.
38:35 Tracy V. Wilson? The trees at the shrine have their own story, because the Meiji Jingu Shrine is surrounded by a man-made forest, and the trees that make up that forest were donated by the people of Japan from all over the country, with an estimated 245 species represented. Holly saw several write-ups that said there were 100,000 trees, but a 2015 book on Shinto shrines, written by Joseph Calley and John Dougal, gave the number of trees as 170,000.
39:07 Tracy V. Wilson? So it may be that smaller number was more of the starting point when the shrine was completed in 1920. When you look at photos of the site from when it was first dedicated, you can see how much this forest has grown. In old aerial photos, you can clearly see all the buildings with just the trees planted around them. But in photos today, it is just a mass of green foliage with small glimpses of the structures peeking through.
39:34 Holly Frey? The shrine was designed by one of Japan's famous architects, Ito Chuta, in a traditional Shinto style. And work began on the structure in 1915. The main materials used were Japanese cypress and copper, and the site is really a full complex. In addition to the main shrine, there is also an amulet office where visitors can purchase omamori to bring good fortune. There's a museum that includes various treasures related to the shrine and to Emperor Meiji, and a secondary annex of the museum. There is also a sacred music hall known as the Kaguradin. There is a cafe and a martial arts dojo. Not all of these buildings, of course, were original to the site.
40:17 Holly Frey? In fact, none of the current buildings are from the original 1920 opening.
40:23 Tracy V. Wilson? During World War II, almost all of the buildings at Meiji Jingu burned in air raids. Surprisingly, the forest survived, though. In 1958, after a public fundraising effort generated enough money to rebuild, the shrine was reconstructed using the original plans.
40:43 Holly Frey? There was also a lot of other stuff going on in Japan in the time between World War II and 1958 when this rebuilt, but at this point, I just wanted to focus on the shrine. It is very, very easy to find photos of the Meiji Jingu Shrine online and in books because it is very beautiful. It attracts a lot of tourists in addition to people visiting for their own spiritual reasons. But there are no photographs allowed beyond the outer worship hall. So if you're in the inner worship hall praying, there are no photographs in there.
41:16 Tracy V. Wilson? So this shrine is very easy to visit. The shrine grounds are free to enter and are open every day from sunrise to sunset. Some of the buildings, like the museum, have days when they're closed. The inner garden, where the empress's irises were planted, has an entry fee of 500 yen that goes toward upkeep. Visitors to the main shrine can make a small offering of a coin, bow twice, clap their hands twice, and bow again to show reverence. You can also purchase votive tablets called ema for 500 yen, and write wishes and hopes and just gratitude on them. You can hang them around a camphor tree at the main shrine. There's also a letter version of this ritual
42:01 Tracy V. Wilson? in which you can write your sentiment onto it and then tuck money into the letter to place it in an offering box.
42:09 Holly Frey? These offerings are given each morning by the people of the shrine to the spirits. It's quite lovely. I really found it a very moving experience. But that is, you know, a very abbreviated version of the Meiji, Meiji period and the shrine. It's kind of interesting because when you're at the shrine, you don't get all of, unless you go in the museum, you're not getting all of the information about Emperor Meiji. Presumably to people of Japan, the connection is obvious. But to tourists, I feel like they may not always understand exactly like what is going on and why those people were chosen to have a shrine built to memorialize them.
42:52 Holly Frey? So if you go to Japan, highly recommend it.
42:57 Tracy V. Wilson? Do you have listener mail for us?
42:58 Holly Frey? I do. I do. Because I've been gone, my listener mail is a little bit behind recent episodes, but we'll get caught up. But I wanted to read this because I loved it and I really love the pet pictures in it. This is from our listener Anita, who writes, "Dear Tracy and Holly, thank you so much for bringing such wonderful history vignettes to life with your delightful personalities, thoughtful reflections and contextualization, and humor. I've been listening on and off for about 10 years and always enjoy hearing your voices and learning new things. I'm writing to tell you about several books I'm reading connected to your topics. First, I was completely floored by your recent show about the lost cause. I had never known that this take on the Civil War
43:39 Holly Frey? was a concerted effort to reframe Reconstruction and motivations for the war, etc. I am from South Carolina." And distinctly remember being taught in middle school in the 1990s that slavery was not, in fact, the reason for the Civil War and that the teacher expected us to put states' rights as the top motivator on our tests. I also clearly remember the textbooks highlighting the vocabulary for carpetbaggers and scalawags in the description of northerners coming to the South during Reconstruction to take advantage of poor Southerners. I think on some level, I always knew that people from other states got different versions of history, but your thorough treatment of the lost cause was truly the first time this all came together for me. Y'all suggested books to read that treated the Civil War
44:24 Holly Frey? and Reconstruction with richer perspectives. I can't recall if you specifically recommended this book, but I was inspired to start reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn to get a fresh take on US history. I also have been enjoying Baking in the American South by Anne Byrne. The book is beautifully photographed and the stories behind the recipes are enchanting and informative about their history and local origin. I truly enjoyed the episode where you interviewed Anne Byrne and find the book equally delightful. The chocolate chip cookie recipe is amazing, and someday I will master cornbread if I can ever remember not to use 1% milk instead of whole or buttermilk. Just as an aside, I can't get enough of Anne Byrne. I love her so much, and that book is spectacular.
45:09 Holly Frey? I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating. I'm now, Anita says, on the episode about Kurt Vonnegut, which is quite timely because I just finished Cat's Cradle. She's just tied to our stories in her reading. As pet tax, I'm attaching photos of my rescue pup, Juno, an Australian cattle dog mix who loves to eat grits and herd my daughters around the house. Thank you again. I love the show. Okay, I'm obsessed with Juno. I'm obsessed with this dog. This dog is so stinking cute. I, I can't, I can't, I can't function in the face of this cute puppy face. It's got one of those faces. He's
45:51 Holly Frey? a, a black and tan coat. He has these adorable stand up ears. The eyes are gorgeous. Juno, you're a gem. We can just tell. Um, I love it. I love it. Although now I realize that Anita did not specify whether Juno was boy or a girl. So I, I called, I called Juno a him. I don't know. Juno, you're beautiful though. I'm telling you, that dog, weaponized cute. It's the very best. Uh, if you would like to write to us, send us pictures of your painfully adorable pets. And remember, I like them all. So if you've got pet spiders, send them my way. Um,
46:30 Holly Frey? you can do that at [email protected] . I don't know if Tracy wants pictures of spiders. Maybe put spiders in all caps on any emails that might include them so she can make that choice. I'll be looking at them. Uh, you can also subscribe to the show on the iHeart Radio app or wherever it is you listen to your favorite show.
46:54 Tracy V. Wilson? Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
47:09 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. In season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, host Martine Hackett continues the conversation with people living with MG, CIDP, and the broader rare disease community, exploring what comes after diagnosis through stories of hope, progress, and connection. Produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Argenx. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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