This shrine honours General Nogi Maresuke, a famed commander in the Russo-Japanese War. Hours after Emperor Meiji's funerary procession in 1912, Nogi and his faithful wife committed ritual suicide, following their master into death. An antiques flea market is held on the shrine grounds on the fourth Sunday of each month (9am to 4pm).
General Nogi's Residence is up the hill from the shrine. This is where Nogi disembowelled himself and his wife slit her throat; it's open to the public only on 12 and 13 September. The rest of the year you can peek through the windows of the barracks-style wooden residence and notice the mash-up of Japanese and Western styles that defined the Meiji period (think a tatami room with a Western fireplace).
