Shoin Shrine

Yoshida Shoin (1830–1859) , a Choshu Domain samurai during the latter days of the Edo Period, was also a scholar, philosopher and teacher who nurtured the youth, many of whom later became key figures in the Meiji Government. In 1882, 23 years after his death, former disciples such as Shinsaku Takasugi and Hirofumi Ito (the first prime minister of Japan) founded a shrine at the place where Shoin was buried and mourned in 1863. Yoshida Shoin was born in August 1830 as a member of the Choshu Domain (current Yamaguchi Prefecture) to a samurai family at former Matsumoto Village in Hagi, Yamaguchi. He learned while travelling throughout Japan and lectured on Confucianism, such as the ideas of Mencius. However, Shoin was imprisoned and sentenced to death in the Ansei Purge and died in prison at Denmacho in October, 1859 at the age of 29. The current shrine was reconstructed from 1927–28. On these precincts stand the statue of Shoin and a grave. Recently, Shoin has been worshiped as the god of study, attracting many visitors from all over Japan. A three-minute walk from Shoin-jinja-mae Station on the Tokyu Setagaya Line.