The Gokoku Jinja [Defence of the Fatherland Shrine] originally stood by a small waterfall in the noted garden of Seiji Noma, the founder of Kodansha. The Noma villa and its extensive garden were situated at the rear of the then new Kodansha headquarters, built in 1934.

Records show that the land utilised by the garden and the villa was previously owned by Akiyoshi Yamada, an earl and former justice minister of the Meiji period (1868-1912). The records also tell us that Lord Yamada was accorded the rare honour of by a visit to his residence from the Emperor Meiji. Consequently, in the Shinto faith, the location is considered blessed. To mark this, the establishment of a shrine was proposed in the early 1930s. The shrine itself, named Gokoku Jinja -- it is near the much older Gokokuji Temple -- was deified on November 3, 1934 and is associated with the god worshipped at the Meiji Shrine.

Unfortunately, most of the land around the Noma villa, including the garden, was expropriated for the route of the No. 5 Expressway in the 1960s. The shrine was therefore moved a short distance to its present, arguably equally fitting, location by the entrance to the Noma Dojo.

Shoichi Noma