Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingū)

In front of you is Meiji Shrine, the most visited shrine in Japan at New Year. It is dedicated to Emperor Meiji, who died in 1912, and to his wife, Empress Shōken, who died in 1914. They are not buried here: their spirits are venerated as kami, the divinities of Shintō.

1The emperor of modernisation

Meiji came to the throne in 1867, while still a teenager. During his reign Japan abolished the shogunate and the samurai class, adopted a constitution, built railways and became a world power. After his death it was decided to build this shrine, which opened on 1 November 1920.

2A man-made forest

Much of the land was a flat plain with hardly any trees. Some one hundred thousand trees arrived as donations from all over Japan, and the forestry experts Honda Seiroku, Hongō Takanori and Uehara Keiji planned a forest that, in time, would sustain itself without any human intervention. Today it covers some seventy hectares and looks like an ancient woodland.

The main buildings burned down in the air raid of 14 April 1945 and were rebuilt in 1958; the forest survived.

3What to look for

• The two camphor trees joined by a rope, known as the ‘married couple’: they were planted in 1920.
• The ema plaques, with wishes written in dozens of languages.
• The copper roofs, turned green by their patina.