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Above: Type 41 75 mm Mountain Gun, towed by Imperial Japanese cavalry, Manchuria, 1939 (Imperial Japanese Army 1939). Public domain
Over the course of the Asia-Pacific War, thousands of men were sent off across mainland Asia and the Pacific, initially expanding the borders of the Japanese Empire before retreating to defend the homeland in the latter stages of the conflict. Many survivors of these military regiments erected memorials to their fallen comrades at Ryōzen Kannon temple and Kyoto Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine (京都霊山護国神社). Through translation of these memorials at Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine, we can see how far from home these men were sent, where they fought, and how they looked back on the conflict decades later. The source inscriptions are available on the Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine website.
Below is a comprehensive map of all the locations where the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy units memorialised at Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine were sent:
Disclaimer: It is important to note that, as not all Kyoto's military units are memorialised at Kyoto Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine, this page does not provide a complete military history of Kyoto during the Asia-Pacific War. For more on Kyoto's most important military unit, the 16th Division, see Justin Aukema's 2021 article on "Historical Consciousness at Japanese War Sites: The Case of the Military Sites in Kyoto." Furthermore, as a war dead memorial, little is said at Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine of the actions of soldiers beyond strictly military duties. Military cemeteries primarily seek to honour and respect the war dead, therefore providing an insightful yet nonetheless biased historical perspective. As such, there is no allusion at the shrine to events of the Asia-Pacific War which portray Imperial Japanese forces negatively, such as the Nanking Massacre (Fujiwara 2007) or the comfort women system (Tanaka 2002).
This page aims to demonstrate the breadth of deployment of imperial military units commemorated at a single site, as well as how survivors reflected on their past actions through memorials. For a comprehensive, critical historical account of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, readers are encouraged to visit the Kyoto Museum for World Peace.
The main hall of Kyoto Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine. Photograph by author (October 2023)
Kyoto Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine
Kyoto Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine
Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine is located high on the slope of Mt Ryōzen in the Higashiyama district. Following the Bōshin War (戊辰戦争), the shrine was the first national war dead memorial site of the new Japanese nation, predating its more famous modern counterpart in Tokyo, Yasukuni Shrine. These shrines are known as shōkonsha (招魂社), where all soldiers who died fighting for Japan are venerated as eirei (英霊, noble spirits), regardless of their conduct in life (Takenaka 2015). While much of the shrine grounds are dedicated to soldiers of the Bōshin War, the shrine is also home to the Showa no mori (昭和の杜, Showa Memorial Grove) for Japanese soldiers who fought and died in the Asia-Pacific War.
Despite the international foot-traffic in the area, the shrine offers little in the way of translation for its memorials, contrary to neighbouring Ryōzen Kannon. These memorials have been translated by the author in an effort to understand how the Asia-Pacific War is commemorated in Japan. Read below to understand how former soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy looked back on their fight for empire in post-war Japan.
The 128th Infantry Regiment
The 128th Infantry Regiment
Erected: 9th March 1960
The 128th served as part of the Burma Expeditionary Force, marching toward the Imphal region of then-British India to consolidate Japanese territorial gains across South Asia and cut off China from Allied supply lines. Of the 200,000 Japanese soldiers sent on the campaign, approximately 164,000 died, most from disease and malnutrition (Chidorigafuchi National Memorial Website 2018). The 128th memorial at Ryōzen Gokoku Shrine maps the route that veterans took on a memorial tour to Myanmar in 2007, complete with a recovered Imperial Japanese Army machine gun and helmet from former battlefields, as well as stones taken from key points on the tour.
Photographs by author (October 2023)
Inscription:
"The 128th Infantry Regiment of the 53rd Division was formed in Kyoto in November 1940 and dispatched to the Greater East Asia War on the Burma Campaign in December 1943. They fought fierce battles against the British and Indian Army, as well as plague and miasma, for a year and a half. Out of the 4,641 elite soldiers, 2,720 of them became protective gods of their country (gokoku no kami) one after another, and the survivors became as tragic as living corpses. As the battle came to an end, the volunteers came together and built a monument in honour of the regiment in this sacred area. It was erected to rest the spirits of our friends who were scattered in the mountains and fields of Burma, and to serve as a memorial to us, as well as to pray for everlasting peace.
Erected 9th March, 1960 by volunteers of the former 128th Infantry Regiment of the Burma Expeditionary Force."
116th Division Medical Corps
116th Division Medical Corps
Erected: April 1962
The 116th served across central and southern China, supporting infantry units and tasked with providing medical aid in the aftermath of battles across the Chinese mainland from 1933 until the war's end. Veterans later visited Anqing in April 1981 as part of the Ankei yūkō sokushin hōchū dan (安慶友好促進訪中団, Anqing Friendship Promotion Visiting Group), whereupon they received a stone to add to their memorial in Kyoto.
Inscription:
"Our unit was formed in Kyoto in May 1933 and was immediately dispatched to the war front on the continent, participating in numerous battles in China and South China, returning in 1945. Our unit fulfilled our responsibilities by providing rescue and shelter for injured and sick soldiers of front-line combat, and by providing local security and medical treatment for more than eight years until it was disbanded. We fulfilled our responsibilities by rescuing soldiers, providing shelter, and guarding the vicinity. We provided skilful medical care.
During this time, more than 200 brothers in arms and over 100 warhorses were scattered in those lands as a foundation stone of their country.
Now, times have changed. A quarter century later, we see the rise of new Japan.
This monument was erected to commemorate the achievements of the troops and to commemorate the spirits of their fallen comrades.
We also pray for the glory and peace of our homeland.
Auspicious day of April 1962
All the comrades of the 116th Medical Corps."
Stone memorial inscription:
"Stones from Anqing, China
Collected in April 1981
116th Division Medical Corps Anqing Friendship Promotion Visiting Group."
Photographs by author (October 2023)
Manchuria Pioneer Youth Volunteer Corps
Manchuria Pioneer Youth Volunteer Corps
The Manchuria Pioneer Youth Corps Memorial. Photograph by author (August 2023)
Erected: Undetermined
The Manchuria Pioneer Youth Volunteer Corps was a programme intended to send Japanese youths between 16–19 years old from across the country to Manchuria (Yaginuma 2021). The goal was to develop the newly annexed territory for farming to feed the homeland. While other Japanese prefectures each sent roughly 300 youths to participate in the programme, some 2,000 volunteers were dispatched from Kyoto.
This memorial stands testament not only to the colonial nature of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" of the Japanese empire, but also to the all-consuming nature of total war where thousands of adolescents were sent overseas to face the dangers of the war-torn frontier to support aggressive expansionism. Of the 2,000 sent from Kyoto, 500 died following Japan's defeat in 1945 in the desperate scramble to flee Soviet forces and return to the homeland.
The puppet state of Manchuria within the Japanese empire at its greatest territorial extent. Public domain
Inscription:
"History of the Manchuria Pioneer Youth Volunteer Corps Monument
This monument was erected to honour the legacy of the 2,000 Manchuria Pioneer Youth Volunteer Corps (called the Manchurian Pioneer Youth Volunteer Corps in the mainland) sent from Kyoto Prefecture, and to commemorate the spirits of the fallen soldiers.
The development of Manchuria, said to be the lifeblood of our country, was promoted as an important national policy for the development of the Japanese nation, and the core of this effort was the volunteer corps. At the age of 14 or 15, the members left their hometowns and moved to the frontier. Aiming to build a unique home, they swung hoes and took guns to the continent and devoted themselves to increasing food production in the northern part of the country. However, the dream of construction was shattered by defeat in the war in August 1945, and 500 members were forced to flee, avoiding death from starvation and disease as they were chased by artillery fire across the war-torn continent. These 500 soldiers perished on the frozen ground under summer grass and have never returned home. Twenty-five years have passed since the end of the war.
With the cooperation of many comrades from all over who we lived, slept and ate together while cultivating the mainland, we selected the sacred place of Ryōzen, and so become gods enshrined at the Gokoku Shrine. May they rest in peace, praying for the peace and prosperity of our homeland forever. We pray that you protect us."
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