What is Nagasaki Gokoku Shrine?
{{Infobox religious building|native_name=長崎縣護國神社|religious_affiliation=[[Shinto]]|image=長崎護国神社 - panoramio.jpg|caption=|map_type=Japan|coordinates=|map_size=|map_alt=|map_relief=|map_caption=|location=|festival=|type=''[[Gokoku shrine]]''<br />(Formerly ''[[Shokonsha]]'')|leadership=|website=|architecture_style=|founded_by=|established=|date_destroyed=}} Nagasaki Gokoku Shrine is a shrine in [[Nagasaki]], Japan. It's a [[Gokoku Shrines|Gokoku Shrine]] and it's dedicated to the spirits of around 60,000 people from Nagasaki Prefecture.<ref>{{Cite web|title=長崎で「護国神社の庭フェス」 徒歩来場者には特典も|url=https://nagasaki.keizai.biz/headline/1405/|access-date=2023-01-09|website=長崎経済新聞}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=長崎県護国神社 {{!}} {{!}} ながさきの平和【公式】|url=https://nagasakipeace.jp/gokoku.html|access-date=2023-01-09|website=ながさきの平和|language=ja}}</ref> These people died between the [[Meiji Restoration]] and [[World War II]]. The shrine was started in 1869 in Nagasaki's Umegasaki area. At that time, it was called the Nagasaki [[Shokonsha]] and it was built to remember the 43 samurais who died in the [[Boshin War]]. In 1874, another shrine called Saku Shokonsha was founded in the Nishi-shima area of Nagasaki. This new shrine was built in memory of 536 people who died in the [[Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1874)|Taiwan Expedition]]. Later on, the two shrines joined together and became the Nagasaki Gokoku Shrine in 1942. The shrine buildings were completed in 1944, but in August 1945, all of them were destroyed during the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|atomic bombing of Nagasaki]]. The Sako Shokonsha Shrine (Umegasaki Tenno-miya Shrine) was temporarily relocated at the former Sako Shokonsha Shrine. The shrine was rebuilt in October 1963 and has been designated as a National Important Cultural Property. The shrine celebrates two annual festivals on April 22 and October 26.The shrine is a [[Gokoku Shrines|Gokoku Shrine]], which means it's a shrine that's dedicated to the dead from wars. These shrines were created to honor the war de