was a

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...

shrine at MacRitchie Reservoir,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Built by the Japanese Imperial Army during the

Japanese occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. Japanese military forces occupied it af ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the shrine was destroyed directly before British forces re-occupied Singapore. Located deep inside the

Central Catchment Nature Reserve The Central Catchment Nature Reserve (; ms, Hutan Simpanan Kawasan Tadahan Air Tengah; ta, மத்திய நீர்ப்பிடிப்பு இயற்கை ரிசர்வ்) is the largest nature reserve in Singapore, oc ...

(CCNR), the National Heritage Board (NHB) declared the site a historic site in 2002, although no plans have been made public so far to develop or make any significant changes to the site since the war.

History

The Syonan Jinja (Light of the South Shrine) was envisioned to be a shrine that commemorated the many Japanese soldiers and military personnel who fell in the Japanese conquest of Singapore. The construction of Syonan Jinja was significant. Major Yasuji Tamura, the commander of the Japanese 5th Division's Engineers Regiment and the man in-charge of the design and the construction of the Syonan Jinja, had envisioned for the shrine in Singapore to be best Shinto shrine in the whole of the southern areas of Asia that has come under Japanese occupation. It was also to be the second-greatest shrine of the Shinto faith after the

Meiji Shrine , is a Shinto shrine in Shibuya, Tokyo, that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. The shrine does not contain the emperor's grave, which is located at Fushimi-momoyama, south of Kyoto. History ...

in Tokyo, Japan.

Destruction

Just before the Japanese officially surrendered on 15 August in 1945, they decided to destroy and burn the shrine to the ground in fear of its desecration by the returning British colonial forces.

Preservation

The ruins of Syonan Jinja – now down to a few remaining support structures and broken pieces and chunks – can still be found in the dense tropical forest of the

(CCNR), in which includes the MacRitchie Reservoir. The remnants of the old shrine were designated as a historical site by the NHB in 2002. However, the historical site remains inaccessible to the public due to the strong current deep stream and the presence of wild animals.

References

Gallery

Image:昭南神社-陸海将星の参拝.jpg, Japanese army and navy officers visiting the Shonan Jinja in 1943 Image:昭南神社邮票（日治马来）.jpg, Poster stamp depicting Shonan Jinja

External links

Exploring the Ruins of Syonan Jinja at MacRitchie Reservoir
{{Shinto shrine Japanese occupation of Singapore 20th-century Shinto shrines Religious buildings and structures in Singapore Shinto shrines in the Japanese colonial empire Religious buildings and structures completed in 1942 1942 establishments in the Japanese colonial empire 1945 disestablishments in the Japanese colonial empire 20th-century architecture in Singapore