Meiji+Shinto+Shrine

=Meiji Shinto Shrine= By Ben Trouvais Meiji Shrine is located in Shibuya, Tokyo. The Shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.

History
Emperor Meiji died in 1912. Almost immediately after, construction began on his and his wife's shrine. It was concluded that the shrine would be built in an iris garden in Tokyo, due to the fact that the Emperor and his wife used to visit the garden frequently. Construction began in 1915, using the traditional Japanese architectural style of nagare-zukuri, using mainly copper and cypress wood. The shrine was dedicated in 1920, finished in 1921, and the grounds finished in 1926. Up until 1946, it was the top ranking government owned shrine. The original complex was destroyed during air raids of World War II. Using public funds, the temple was restored by October of 1958.

Important Events
Over the course of the last century, many different political figures and other important people visited the shrine. In 1938, a group of Hitler Youth visited the shrine and participated in a purification ceremony. Almost a year later, Japan and Germany would be fighting together as the Axis powers during World War II. The shrine entered back into world-wide media when Hillary Clinton visited the shrine in 2009. Then, in 2010, the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle ended his stay in Japan by visiting Japan using the same respect as Hillary Clinton had before him.

The Shrine Today
Today, the shrine remains mainly as it had been for the past century. The building still upholds it main function as a Shinto shrine and burial grounds for Emperor and his wife. The extensive collection of sake still remains on the castle grounds, stacked up neatly into a wall. People still frequently visit the shrine and sign their prayers. They still put their prayers in the designated area, just as they have for the last century.