April 22, 2025

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru on April 21 dedicated a sacred tree called “masakaki” to Yasukuni Shrine out of his own pocket for the shrine’s annual spring festival, which began on the same day, following the autumn festival last October.

The dedication was made in the name of Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru. However, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa at a press conference on the same day said, “I understand that he offered the masakaki as a private individual.”

In addition to PM Ishiba, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nukaga Fukushiro (LDP), President of the House of Councilors Sekiguchi Masakazu (LDP), Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Fukuoka Takamaro (LDP), and Minister of State for Economic Security Kiuchi Minoru (LDP) also made masakaki-tree offerings to the shrine.

Ishiba, in the August 2006 issue of the monthly magazine “Ronza” criticized then Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichiro for visiting Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary day of the end of WWII, arguing that as long as Yasukuni enshrines Class-A war criminals, prime ministers should not visit there. The dedication of votive trees by now Prime Minister Ishiba contradicts his own past position.

Before and during the war, Yasukuni Shrine played an instrumental role in convincing the populate to support the war by honoring those who were killed in action as spirits of the fallen heroes. The shrine continues to proudly characterize Japan’s past war of aggression as a just war. The visit and dedication of ceremonial objects by Cabinet ministers to Yasukuni Shrine are tantamount to demonstrating to the world that they share Yasukuni’s view of history.