Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine Audio Guide

Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine

   Welcome to Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine, one of the largest and best-loved Shinto shrines in the city. You will find it inside the grounds of Hiroshima Castle, where the old castle compound has become a public park that is free to wander. Most visitors pass the shrine on their way to the castle keep, but it deserves a pause of its own. The name carries the idea. Gokoku shrines are Shinto shrines dedicated to people who died in war. Hiroshima's honors soldiers from the former Aki province, which is now the western part of Hiroshima Prefecture. Over the next few minutes we will follow the shrine through a long journey: its founding, a move across the city, its destruction in 1945, and the rebuilding that brought it back to where it stands today. It is also a living place. Families come here for New Year visits, parents bring children in festive clothes, and the city's baseball team arrives to ask for a good season. Let's walk in.

2. 02

   From Futaba to the Castle Grounds

   This shrine has moved more than once, and its story begins in the first years of the Meiji era. It was founded in 1868, or in 1869 depending on the account, in the Futaba area of Hiroshima. Its purpose was to mourn the men of the Hiroshima domain who died in the Boshin War, the civil conflict that accompanied the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and the birth of modern Japan. In 1934 the shrine was dismantled and moved to a site beside the old Hiroshima municipal baseball stadium. In 1939 it took the name Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine, the name it carries today. That was the form of the shrine that stood in the city in 1945. Then came the atomic bomb. The shrine was destroyed. In 1956 it was rebuilt on its present site, on the former castle grounds, with the help of donations from the citizens of Hiroshima. Ordinary people paid to bring it back, and that fact says a good deal about what the shrine means to the city.

3. 03

   Rebuilt Halls and a Stone Approach

   What you see today is a shrine renewed in layers. The main hall and the worship hall were rebuilt in the 1990s, in a project linked to the commemoration of the Emperor's enthronement. The grand stone slab approach that leads you toward the shrine was added in that same period of rebuilding. The work did not stop there. In June 2009, the remaining facilities were renovated as part of a project marking the 130th anniversary of the shrine's founding. So the shrine you walk through is the product of several chapters of care, each one adding to the last. A practical note for your visit: the approach is flat and paved, which makes it comfortable for strollers and wheelchairs, unlike many shrines built on hillsides. Because the shrine sits in a park setting, you can easily pair it with the castle and the grounds around it. The shrine's own website offers visitor information in English, and it is the place to check ritual times, which can change from year to year.

4. 04

   New Year Crowds and the Lucky Carp

   Come at the right moment and this quiet park becomes one of the busiest places in western Japan. Hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the new year, draws enormous crowds here. Counts run to more than half a million people over the first days of January, which makes this one of the most popular shrines in the Chugoku region. The shrine is also a favorite place for Shichi-Go-San, the celebration for children of particular ages, and it hosts festivals throughout the year. Then there is the carp. The moat of Hiroshima Castle is filled with carp, and Hiroshima's baseball team is the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Players come to Gokoku Shrine at the start of each baseball season to pray for a good year. The shrine is well known for its lucky carp, so the fish in the water and the team on the field share a symbol. It is a wonderful example of how a place of remembrance can sit comfortably within everyday city life, with its prayers, its festivals and even its sporting hopes.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   As you leave, take a moment to think about how much this one site holds. It began as a memorial for the fallen of the Boshin War, it moved across the city, it was destroyed in 1945, and it was brought back by the donations of Hiroshima's own people. The shrine sits within the former castle compound, so consider letting the surroundings tell the next part of the story. Look at the park and the castle grounds with the same eyes, and think about how many layers of the city's history rest in this one corner. Notice the moat too, and see whether you can spot the carp that give the baseball team its name. There is plenty more to discover nearby, and the castle keep is the natural next step on your walk.