Meiji Jingū was created to honor Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken, whose reigns were associated with Japan’s rapid transformation into a modern state. Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and the empress in 1914. Their tombs were established in Kyoto, but a nationwide movement sought a commemorative shrine in Tokyo, the imperial capital since 1868. The government selected former imperial land near Yoyogi, and the shrine was formally founded under the state-administered system that linked Shinto ritual, imperial memory, and public identity in the early twentieth century.

Construction required both architecture and a new sacred landscape. Itō Chūta and other designers developed buildings in a restrained form of traditional shrine architecture, using Japanese cypress and copper. At the same time, foresters planned a woodland intended to become self-sustaining over generations. People throughout Japan and its territories donated roughly one hundred thousand trees representing hundreds of species, while volunteers helped plant them. The resulting forest was not a remnant of ancient Tokyo but a carefully designed ecological monument meant to mature as the shrine aged.

Meiji Jingū was dedicated in November 1920. Worship centered on the enshrined spirits, or kami, of the imperial couple and on virtues attributed to their lives. The broad approach, massive torii gates, purification basin, inner sanctuary, and surrounding groves separated the sacred precinct from the expanding metropolis. Nearby facilities included the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery, completed in 1926, whose paintings narrated major events of the reign. The complex supported ceremonies, education, and mass participation while reinforcing official accounts of Japan’s modernization and imperial institution.

Air raids on Tokyo in April 1945 destroyed the principal shrine buildings, though much of the young forest survived. After Japan’s defeat, the shrine was reorganized as an independent religious corporation under the postwar separation of religion and state. A nationwide fundraising campaign supported reconstruction, and new buildings closely following the earlier design were completed in 1958. Later repairs and renewals have preserved the traditional materials and craft practices while accommodating millions of annual visits within one of the world’s most densely built cities.

The shrine remains active for daily worship, weddings, festivals, and major seasonal observances. It receives exceptionally large crowds for hatsumōde, the first shrine visit of the New Year. The Inner Garden preserves an iris field associated with the imperial couple, and the museum displays objects connected with their lives. Meiji Jingū’s historical importance lies in its multiple layers: it is a memorial to an emperor and empress, a product of prewar national policy, a postwar reconstruction, and an intentionally grown urban forest. Its apparent timelessness is itself the result of modern planning, collective donation, and continuing ritual care.