Meiji Jingu, also known as Meiji Shrine, is a Shinto shrine established in 1920, to worship the spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. It is the most visited shrine/temple in Japan, with over 3 million visitors in just the first 3 days of the new year. The largest torii gate in Japan, unique fortune telling "Waka" poems written by the Emperor Meiji, its location being in the middle of Tokyo but the shrine itself having a peaceful atmosphere, and the beautiful forest, are some unique features about this shrine.
Shinto is a religion unique to Japan, has no founder, and has the philosophy that, instead of having one god like many other religions, Shinto has various gods of the nature and even ancestors too. The gods enshrined at Meiji Jingu are the souls of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.
Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) was the 122nd Emperor of Japan, who was the key figure for Japan to proceed with modernization, introducing Western culture such as eating beef, wearing Western attire and hairstyles, and even drinking wine. (Normal shrines usually have Japanese sake barrels displayed as an offering to the gods, but you will see wine barrels here because he was a lover of wine.) He ascended to the throne in 1867 (just 14 years old!) after his father had passed away at the age of 36. Many dramatic changes took place in his time, such as the Meiji Restoration (change from military government ruled by the Tokugawa shogun family to revolutionary new Imperial government), moving of the Imperial family's residence from Kyoto to Tokyo (Emperor Meiji was the first Emperor to see Mount Fuji), and transition from old, closed Japan to a modern, international Japan.
After Emperor Meiji passed away in 1912, and Empress Shoken passed away in 1914, they were buried in Kyoto, the Emperor's birthplace, the location as he wished in his will. However, the people wished to commemorate the souls of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, in Tokyo. As a result, the government had decided to build a shrine in order to commemorate their virtues and venerate them forever.
One of the most interesting things about this site, is that the forest you see is a man-made forest built with the strong will of building the "永遠の杜 (Eien no Mori)", which means "eternal forest". The land of Yoyogi where Meiji Jingu now exists, had an Iris Garden which especially the Empress loved, but the surrounding area was a vast land of wilderness. Upon building a shrine, a sacred forest was necessary to surround the shrine, so the grand project to build a man-made forest had taken place. The garden experts leading this project had a firm will that they wanted to create an eternal forest which would last forever, more than 100 years, without the help of mankind. Famous shrines like Ise Jingu and Nikko Toshogu used cedar trees, so when the experts explained that the forest would be based on oak, beech, and camphor trees, the prime minister at the time was upset that this important shrine was not being treated like the other important shrines and against this idea. However, the experts knew that this land was not suitable for growing cedar trees, because this land had lacked enough water supply which cedar trees required, and the smoke from the trains running nearby would weaken cedar trees. Since the experts had a strong will to establish the regenerating eternal forest, they had thoroughly gathered facts and explained of how the oak, beech, camphor trees had naturally existed to this area, the difference of how this land was not suitable for cedar trees to grow, and finally persuaded the prime minister. Over 100,000 trees were donated to Meiji Jingu from all over Japan, and the forest is still growing with over 230,000 trees. If it weren't for the experts leading the eternal forest project, we may not have been able to enjoy this beautiful scenery in the middle of Tokyo today.
