"Deep History of the Meiji Restoration" Series VIII: A Short History of the Meiji Restoration Part 2, Historical Non-fiction Writer Masaaki Hori

The Founding of Ube Gokoku Shrine

The construction of Ube Gokoku Shrine was completed on November 19, 1866 (Keio 2), when the land at Kuzushiyama was cleared and the shrine building was finished. This is written in the "Ube Village Records," so many people believe that this is when Ube Gokoku Shrine was born. However, that was just the time when the building was completed; it was nothing more than an empty vessel without its main deity.

A Shokonsha (shrine for the spirits of the war dead) begins when the war dead are enshrined in a Shokon festival and become gods.

The name Ube Gokoku Shrine has been used since April 1939 (Showa 14) [*1], and before that, it was called the Ishin Shokonsha. In other words, it was a Shokonsha that enshrined the victims of the late Edo and Meiji Restoration periods.

Therefore, the time when the main deity, Fukuhara Echigo, was enshrined marks the beginning of the shrine, which is called the founding.

So, when was Fukuhara Echigo enshrined as a god?

To conclude, it was May 16, 1865 (Keio 1).

The place where the Shokon festival was held was Kotozaki Hachimangu, not far from Ube Gokoku Shrine.

Since the dedicated Ishin Shokonsha building had not yet been built, he was enshrined as a god at Kotozaki Hachimangu. The chief priest for this ceremony was his heir, Fukuhara Hozan, and the person who managed the ceremony was Aoyama Kazusanosuke, the 9th chief priest of Tsubaki Hachimangu in Hagi. This is Aoyama Kiyoshi, who appears frequently in this series and later becomes the first chief priest of Yasukuni Shrine.

The Shokon festival was held and the main deity was born before the Ishin Shokonsha building was built.
Therefore, the founding of the Ishin Shokonsha dates back to May 16, 1865.

In this way, Fukuhara Echigo was enshrined as a god at Kotozaki Hachimangu, and a year and a half later, his divine spirit was transferred to the completed Ishin Shokonsha, but the transfer did not happen immediately.

The "Ube Village Records" show that the shrine transfer ceremony was held on December 5, 1867 (Keio 3).

Just before the Boshin War broke out with the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in Kyoto, the divine spirit of Fukuhara Echigo was transferred from Kotozaki Hachimangu to the Ishin Shokonsha. Therefore, it was at this time that the prototype of the current Ube Gokoku Shrine was completed.

In fact, Aoyama Kazusanosuke (Aoyama Kiyoshi) had been acquainted with Fukuhara Echigo, a hereditary chief retainer of the Mori family, during his lifetime.

The era dates back to April 1863 (Bunkyu 3), when the domain lord Mori Takachika entered Yamaguchi upon the Choshu domain's decision to expel foreigners. From this point on, Fukuhara Echigo was the chief construction supervisor when the secret construction of Yamaguchi Castle began in Yamaguchi.

The land of Yamaguchi, the new domain government office where Yamaguchi Castle was located, was filled with a spirit of innovation.

In this way, a secret castle corresponding to a Western-style army was to be newly built, and an affiliated domain school was also newly established as Yamaguchi Meirinkan in November 1864 (Genji 1). Around this time, Aoyama Kazusanosuke, who was in Hagi, received an order to promote national studies and was working at the editorial bureau of Yamaguchi Meirinkan. Then, at the editorial bureau, he worked with other national scholars to prepare for the Nanko Festival at Yamaguchi Meirinkan on June 25, 1864, and Fukuhara Echigo also attended this Nanko Festival. This story appears in Takami Ishikawa's "Bocho Gokoku Shrine Records: A Study on the Origins of Shokonsha" at the Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives.

Incidentally, immediately after this ceremony, Fukuhara Echigo led the Ube troops and threw himself into the Kinmon Incident.

The purpose of the Kinmon Incident was to seize Emperor Komei and bring him to Yamaguchi Castle, which he himself was directing the construction of ("June 6, 1864, Entry" in "Shinsengumi Battlefield Diary"). However, he failed in this, and Fukuhara Echigo was driven to commit ritual suicide as the shogunate held him responsible. That was in November 1864.

Six months later, as mentioned above, Aoyama Kazusanosuke enshrined the divine spirit of Fukuhara Echigo at Kotozaki Hachimangu. That is the founding of the Ishin Shokonsha, which later had a shrine building, namely Ube Gokoku Shrine.

The unknown history of the late Edo and Meiji Restoration periods is actually still buried in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

[*1] "Ube Jiho," March 16, 1939, "Shokonsha to be renamed Gokoku Shrine from April 1st."