Yūshūkan 3.19

The Yūshūkan is a Japanese military and war museum located within Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo. As a museum maintained by the shrine, which is dedicated to the souls of soldiers who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the museum contains various artifacts and documents concerning Japanese war casualties and military activity from the start of the Meiji Restoration to the end of the Pacific War. The museum was established in 1882, and describes itself as the first and oldest war and military museum in Japan.The museum has been accused of containing revisionism in its accounts of Japan's actions in World War II, as well as glorifying Japan's aggressive militaristic past.HistoryThe museum was initially established in 1882 to preserve and display Meiji Restoration-era artifacts of the Imperial Japanese Army. Following the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War, the Meiji Emperor issued his 192nd order in 1910, which ordered the preservation of military artifacts. The building was expanded when the number of documents and artifacts increased after World War I, but was demolished during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. The structure was rebuilt by Itō Chūta, reopening in 1932.