Syonan Chureito

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Peter H
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Syonan Chureito

#1

Post by Peter H » 29 Jan 2008, 08:06

The Singapore memorial built to honor the war dead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukit_Batok_Memorial
On the night of 7 December 1942, in a solemn ceremony, the ashes of the Japanese war dead encased in white wooden boxes were brought to the foot of the long flight of steps leading to Syonan Chureito and ceremoniously carried up the torch-lit steps for interment inside a small shrine located at the top. The guest of honour was General Homma Masaharu of Philippines fame. The Japanese memorial was a 12 metres tall wooden mast capped with a brass cone. The words "chu rei to" was inscribed on its side which meant "the sacrifice made by the fallen soldiers". A plain, stout, wooden fence surrounded the memorial. The Allies' memorial was unveiled on the same day by one of the POW camp commanders with a speech thanking the Japanese Army.Military and Japanese officials would regularly worship the Japanese Emperor and the deified spirits of their fallen comrades at Syonan Chureito and Syonan Jinja.

http://www.spi.com.sg/spi_files/shinto_ ... _batok.htm
After the Japanese victory, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Commander in Chief of the Japanese armed forces, ordered the construction of a memorial to the Japanese soldiers who died in the battle for Singapore.

Bukit Batok, a four hundred foot high hill opposite Bukit Timah was chosen as the site for the monument. This was the very area where the fiercest fighting in Singapore took place resulting in many deaths for both the Japanese and Allied forces. Nearby is the Ford Motor Company factory where General Arthur Percival signed the unconditional surrender of Singapore on 15 February 1942.

Five hundred Australian prisoners of war encamped at Sime Road and Adam Park were marched back and forth each day between the job site and the camp and worked tirelessly until the job was completed. A bitumen surfaced road was first built leading up to the hill, followed by the construction of a parking lot and concrete steps. Finally the simple but dignified memorial and Shinto shrine were erected.

The memorial rose from two tiers of earth and cement on which stood a forty foot high wooden pylon capped with a brass cone. A plain, stout, wooden fence surrounded the memorial, and a short distance towards the back a simple cross was erected as a memorial to the Allied forces soldiers who died during the battle for Singapore.

The idea of building a monument for the British dead was first suggested by a Japanese commander, Colonel Yasuji Tamura who convinced General Yamashita to build the monument for humane reasons. General Yamashita agreed at a later stage to include the cross as a monument for the allied soldiers.

The allied soldiers received the monument with a mixed reaction. On one hand, they were pleased to have a place for the ashes of their fellow allied soldiers. However the allied soldiers felt resentment and those working in the area used to drop a matchbox of white ants at the base of the monument.

Today, nothing remains of the memorial or the shrine except for these 125 concrete steps and an access road now renamed Lorong Sesuai. On the site of the monument now stands a television transmitting mast.

The following units of the Royal Australian Artillery Regiments were responsible for the construction of the memorial:

Artillery - 2/10 Field Regiment 2/15 Field Regiment 4th Anti Tank Regiment

Infantry - 2/26 Battalion AASC

Japanese Engineering Company.

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Peter H
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#2

Post by Peter H » 29 Jan 2008, 08:08



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Peter H
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#3

Post by Peter H » 29 Jan 2008, 08:15

Singapore’s Hidden World War II Shrines

http://www.rsi.sg/english/discoveringsi ... 55/1/.html


New Syonan and Asianism in Japanese-era Singapore

http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2644

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Re: Syonan Chureito

#4

Post by Peter H » 10 Jul 2009, 11:05

Australian POWs built a bridge across the end of the MacRitchie Reservoir leading to the shrine.
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Re: Syonan Chureito

#5

Post by Peter H » 10 Jul 2009, 11:13

7th December 1942

The second photo shows the access road from the other direction.
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Re: Syonan Chureito

#6

Post by Peter H » 10 Jul 2009, 11:23

From the National Archives of Singapore: http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/picas/public/in ... /index.jsp
COLONEL TAMURA LEADING THE PROCESSION TO THE OPENING & DEDICATION CEREMONY OF THE SYONAN JINJYA SHRINE AT MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR
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Re: Syonan Chureito

#7

Post by Peter H » 10 Jul 2009, 11:40

Magazine cover--Australian building the MacRitchie Reservoir Bridge
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Re: Syonan Chureito

#8

Post by Peter H » 10 Jul 2009, 15:25

From: http://retrievia.wordpress.com/2009/04/

Stamp,March 1943
Image


http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_236_2004-12-24.html
The shrine's design was based on the famed Yasukuni Shrine in Japan. The Yasukuni Shrine dates back to 1869 and has been the resting place for more than 2.466 million Japanese soldiers who died for their country, serving as a national symbol to remember those who died in both World Wars. Reflecting its design, the Shinto shrine was a 12 m-high cylindrical wooden pylon, its peak tipped with a brass cone. At the base of the pylon, in a small shed-like shrine were the remains of the fallen Japanese. In front of the monument was a font which visitors would take a sip from using a long-handled ladle. Shinto meaning "the way of the gods" is the native faith of the Japanese and is primarily pantheistic. It is necessary to cleanse oneself before approaching a Shinto Shrine for prayers, thus the provision of the font. A Japanese bridge was built across an arm of the reservoir to bring visitors to the secluded Shrine hidden behind the trees. The Shinto followers believe that "divine spirits" or kami reside in nature and thus the location of the Syonan Shinto Shrine in the midst of the forest.

A similar ritual cleansing in Japan:
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