[6] The shrine was established in 1869, in the wake of the Boshin War, in order to honor the souls of those who died fighting for the Emperor.

It initially served as the "apex" of a network of similar shrines throughout Japan that had originally been established for the souls of various feudal lords' retainers, and which continued to enshrine local individuals who died in the Emperor's service.

The name Yasukuni, quoted from the phrase「吾以靖國也 in the classical-era Chinese text Zuo Zhuan (Scroll 6, 23rd Year of Duke Xi), literally means "Pacifying the Nation" and was chosen by the Meiji Emperor.

[8] The name is formally written as 靖國神社, using the kyūjitai character forms common before the end of the Pacific War.

As the Empire of Japan expanded, Okinawans, Ainu and Koreans were enshrined at Yasukuni alongside ethnic Japanese.

[7] In 1932, two Sophia University (Jōchi Daigaku) Catholic students refused visit to Yasukuni Shrine on the grounds that it was contrary to their religious convictions.

[12] In 1936, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) of the Roman Curia issued the Instruction Pluries Instanterque,[13] and approved visits to Yasukuni Shrine as an expression of patriotic motive.

[14] This response of the Catholic Church helped the Jesuit university avoid a fateful crisis, but it meant its bowing down to the military power and control by Emperor system.

Enshrinements at Yasukuni were originally announced in the government's official gazette so that the souls could be treated as national heroes.

[7] The shrine had a critical role in military and civilian morale during the war era as a symbol of dedication to the Emperor.

During the final days of the war, it was common for soldiers sent on kamikaze suicide missions to say that they would "meet again at Yasukuni" following their death.

[16][17] Military songs created at that time often included information about Yasukuni, such as Doki no Sakura(同期の桜) and Calming the country(国の鎮め).

The main point is that the Yasukuni is used as a means of pressure to induce soldiers to choose suicide bombing to escape desperate situations, or to socially bury those who are captured or want to surrender.

[18] After World War II, the US-led Occupation Authorities (known as GHQ for General Headquarters) issued the Shinto Directive, which ordered the separation of church and state and forced Yasukuni Shrine to become either a secular government institution or a religious institution independent from the Japanese government.

[16] In 1951, government authorities began considering their enshrinement, along with providing veterans' benefits to their survivors, following the signature of the Treaty of San Francisco.

The head-priest Junna Nakata at Honzen-ji Temple (of the Shingon sect Daigo-ha) requested the pontiff Pope Paul VI to say a Mass for the repose of the souls of all people in Yasukuni, which would include the 1,618 men condemned as Class A, B and C war criminals, and he promised to do so.

[14] The museum and website of the Yasukuni Shrine have made statements criticizing the United States for "convincing" the Empire of Japan to launch the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to justify the Pacific War, as well as claiming that Japan went to war with the intention of creating a "Co-Prosperity Sphere" for all Asians.

This list includes soldiers, as well as women and students who were involved in relief operations in the battlefield or worked in factories for the war effort.

A deceased must fall into one of the following categories for enshrinement in the honden: Although new names of soldiers killed during World War II are added to the shrine list every year, no one who was killed due to conflicts after Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty that formally ended World War II in 1951 has been qualified for enshrinement.

The shrine's haiden, Yasukuni's main prayer hall where worshipers come to pray, was originally built in 1901 in styles of Irimoya-zukuri, Hirairi, and Doubanbuki (copper roofing) in order to allow patrons to pay their respects and make offerings.

[78] The building located directly behind the honden is known as the Reijibo Hōanden (霊璽簿奉安殿) (Repository for the Symbolic Registers of Divinities) built in styles of Kirizuma-zukuri, Hirairi, and Doubanbuki.

It houses the Symbolic Registry of Divinities (霊璽簿, Reijibo)—a handmade Japanese paper document that lists the names of all the kami enshrined and worshiped at Yasukuni Shrine.

Motomiya (元宮) is a small shrine that was first established in Kyoto by sympathizers of the imperial loyalists that were killed during the early weeks of the civil war that erupted during the Meiji Restoration.

This large steel structure was the largest torii in Japan when it was first erected in 1921 to mark the main entrance to the shrine.

[87] The Kitamon and Minamimon are two areas that mark the north and south entrances, respectively, into the Yasukuni Shrine complex.

In 1933, Minister of War Sadao Araki founded the Nihon-tō Tanrenkai (日本刀鍛錬会, Japanese Sword Forging Association) in the grounds of the shrine to preserve old forging methods and promote Japan's samurai traditions, as well as to meet the huge demand for guntō (military swords) for officers.