Project - Singapore's History Investigated - Syonan Jinja

This is one of a series of relatively unknown historical sites in Singapore from both colonial and pre-colonial eras which I intend to research and then physically investigate just for the heck of it. I'll keep adding more sites under this heading as I find more interesting stuff to investigate/research.

Anyone else keen on joining me please feel free to do so. Each of the sites will comprise mini-projects of their own, and will come in two phases;

1. research phase:- where we collect data and information on what, who and most importantly where they are located.

2. investigation phase:- we suit-up, arm ourselves with cameras and lots of mosquito repellent and GO (if possible)

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Syonan Jinja1°20'53.94"N 103°48'49.08"E
(extracted from spi.com.sg)

Buried in the dense jungle of the MacRitchie Catchment Area are
the ruins of Syonan Jinja, a Japanese Shinto Shrine dating back to
World War II. Built to commemorate Japanese soldiers who died
fighting in the invasion of Singapore, Syonan Jinja was the
location of many Japanese religious and cultural ceremonies. The
original structure, built during the Japanese Occupation
(1942-1945), was a temple with no walls. Raised from the ground by
a stone platform graduated with a few steps, the sloping temple
roof rested on pillars that stood at regular intervals round the
perimeter of the platform.  It is believed that during rituals, worshippers would drink from a huge granite ceremonial fountain located outside the shrine.

A Shinto ceremony took place here every New Year's Day for the few
years that the shrine existed. This was marked by the sounding of
the temple bell, the arrival of devotees and the presence of a
Shinto priest presiding over rituals. After the proceedings were
completed here, the worshippers moved on for a second ceremony at
Syonan Chureito, a war memorial for the Japanese soldiers, located
at Bukit Batok.


Syonan Jinja was destroyed when the Japanese Occupation ended in
1945. Crumbling granite steps that once led to the shrine are
visible, as well as the stone fountain. Of the temple building
itself, there is a low stone wall that runs one length of the building and several square pits in the ground that probably once supported pillars.

Today, remnants of the shrine are covered by jungle vegetation. As
it is no longer accessible, Syonan Jinja is best seen through old
photographs and drawings by Japanese military as well as the POWs who helped build the shrine.

MacRitchie Reservoir Once Had a Shrine

(Source by Chan Kwee Sung, Straits Times)



When I came to Singapore in the mid-1980's, one of my first runs
led around MacRitchie Reservoir and through the ruins of the
Japanese "Temple", actually the Syonan Jinja Shrine. For years,
perhaps, the only group in Singapore who knew this location was
the hash. As you can see in the photo (Straits Times, 22 may
1999), the fountain made from a massive granite boulder is still
there.



The article seems to imply that worshipers drank from this
with a wooden ladle, although visiting Japanese hashers who have
seen the site have told me that this particular relic was used for
washing one's hands prior to entering the shrine. The long climb
on the granite steps is still there, and the track from the shrine
back to the Bukit Kallang Covered Reservoir behind the SICC North
Clubhouse is still passable, although a couple of detours have to
be made due to fallen trees and other obstructions. This is a bit
of Singapore history that you can visit, but heed this word of
caution: Do not attempt to find this on your own. There is
waist-deep water to cross and many opportunities to get
disoriented and lost in the MacRitchie Catchment Area.


Several
experienced hashers, whom I know personally, have spent the night
in the Catchment Area among the various snakes, scorpions, biting
spiders and millions of mosquitoes, and none of them want to do it
again. I have seen grown men weep upon finally getting out of the
jungle the next morning.



Syonan Jinja Shrine recalled a small part of Singapore and a short
period of its history. The shrine has remained unknown to many who
did not experience the ravages of World War II when Japan occupied
Singapore for three and a half years.


Syonan Jinja could be said to be a replica of the now
controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Japan that houses departed
spirits of soldiers who were killed before the Allies brought that
country's war machine to a halt in 1945.



The Japanese built the shrine in Singapore in a secluded but
exceedingly picturesque spot by MacRitchie Reservoir.
Its distinctive temple architecture conveyed peace and tranquility
in a setting that was pleasurably augmented by a forest of trees,
the twittering of birds and the captivating expanse of the blue
water of the reservoir itself.


They erected a separate memorial named Chureito on Bukit Batok in
honour of soldiers killed trying to capture Singapore.
Behind this monolithic memorial was a stone cross that was set up
to honour the fallen defenders as well.
A long flight of steps led up the hill to the Chureito and New
Year's Day for three successive years, almost all Japanese in
Singapore, and Singaporeans and others living here who were
obligated to do so, would make their way to the summit and take
obeisance there.



On Jan 1, a national holiday for the Japanese, celebrants and
worshippers would make the first trip to the Jinja where its
serenity would discreetly be broken by the resonance of the temple
bell.



A Shinto priest in ceremonial robes conducted the rituals while
arriving worshippers would doff their footwear before progressing
into the temple.
A fountain of cool, clear water bubbled on the threshold of the
temple and every worshipper would partake of this refreshing drink
from a long-handled ladle placed beside it.



A second trip was then made to the Chureito to pay respects to
Imperial Japanese Army casualties.
Here the Japanese ignored the dwarfish memorial to the Allied
dead; only the least timid of the civilians present would accord
it a surreptitious look.
When the war ended, the Chureito was promptly destroyed by the
returning British and the existence of the Syonan Jinja was just
as effectively obliterated.



As the years went by, all traces of the shrine - mainly its
foundation and stone steps of access - was overwhelmed by jungle
growth.
The Jinja's past was revealed when the production team of the
Television Corporation of Singapore took pains to find it for its
TV series Hey Singapore.



No trace of the Chureito remained either as Bukit Batok has
undergone massive redevelopment that incurred the removal of the
hilltop, reached by a long flight of steps.

The Syonan Jinja, a WWII Japanese Shinto shrine located deep in
the jungle surrounding MacRitchie Reservoir, has been marked as a
historic site by the National Heritage Board (NHB) - Straits Times
17 Sep 2002