'Nation-protecting shrine'. The name originally given to provincial branch shrines of the Yasukuni Jinja dedicated in the Meiji period to the enshrined spirits of the war dead. After the Russo-Japanese war (1904-6) gokoku jinja war memorial shrines were built in each prefecture. In 1945 under the Shinto Directive the shrines lost state support and many smaller war memorials in school grounds etc. were destroyed. There has been a number of legal cases in the post-war period fought over the use of local taxes to support gokoku jinja, and over the issue of local government officials and jietai (self-defence force) members taking part in shrine ceremonies at gokoku jinja in honour of the war dead. (See Goshi).
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.