is a former Shinto shrine located in Medan, Indonesia. The shrine was built in 1944 by the 2nd Guards Division of the former Imperial Japanese Army. It is situated slightly inland from the North Sumatra Governor's Office, formerly known as the East Coast Provincial Office during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia.
The shrine is believed to be one of the last remaining surviving shrine building among those built by the former Japanese Imperial Army in various parts of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. The shrine remained after the war and is then used as a meeting place for the local rich as the Medan Club. The building was designated as a heritage site and protected by the Medan city Government, though the future of the site is uncertain.
Name The 'Hiro' (紘) in Hirohara was taken from the Greater East Asia War principle 'Hakkō ichiu' (八紘一宇), and the 'Hara' (原) was named after the Indonesian word 'Medan' (field). Another possible meaning of "Hiro" is wide or expansive.
History Medan had a sparse population nor had a rapid development until the middle of the Meiji era, when the Dutch rulers began to release land for tobacco plantations. This shift in land use facilitated Medan's evolution into a prominent trading hub, subsequently elevating its status to a governmental center. Soon word began to spread over the burgeoning prosperity of the city, attracting a wave of migrant laborers, notably from the Japanese community. Due to this, Medan has been a center of Japanese migration to Indonesia outside of Batavia. Dutch consulate reports indicate that there were 782 registered Japanese migrants in Batavia in 1909 (with an estimated 400 more yet to register), and an additional 278 (comprising 57 men and 221 women) in Medan by 1910. Renowned poet Mitsuharu Kaneko, once also stayed at an inn in Medan's Indian quarter, Kampung Keling, during his travels to the Dutch East Indies in the early Showa period. Stating that there were more than 40 Japanese-run inns in the new town alone. The oldest foreign-owned hotel not belonging to the Dutch was the 'India Hotel', owned by a Japanese person (1887), located on Perdana Street (now the office of Notary Pane St. Paruhum). Japanese laborers then became entrepreneurs, some even plantation owners themselves.
According to local accounts in Medan, preceding the establishment of the Hirohara Shrine at its current site, there existed a precursor Japanese shrine. Historian, , explained that due to the influx of Japanese laborers to Medan, who were at the time recorded majority as adhering to Japanese Buddhism, it necessitated a designated place of worship for the growing community. Thus leading to the creation of the first iteration of the shrine. According to the last head of the Medan Club, Eswin Soekardja, the shrine was made after when Japanese laborers entered and settled in Medan.
According to historian, , the Japanese shrine was originally situated on the left side of what was now the G.P.C. Khalsa High School in Kampung Keling. However, on the eve of the Second World War, the land encompassing both the shrine and a former Japanese school located on the site was purchased by the local Sikh community.
Japanese invasion
After the Fall of Singapore and the Invasion of Sumatra, on 1 June 1943, the 2nd Guards Division made the Medan area of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) as their base of operations in Southeast Asia. During the war, shrines were erected across occupied territories as places of prayer for victory and enhanced morale, in Indonesia alone there were 11 shrines. Following this, Mutō then initiated the construction of a shrine of his own on the land. The Japanese administration established a specialized shrine known as a Ginsai at the site of the present-day Medan Club. The building that housed the shrine had previously served as the office of the Deli Planters Vereeniging (D.P.V.). The grounds of the former D.P.V. office extended to the area behind what is now the Governor's Office, while its experimental plantation (proeftuin) was located on the site currently occupied by the Office of the Finance Department.
According to Prof. Nakajima Michio (Former Rector of Kanagawa University), the building was designed by Suzuki Hiroyuki, an architect from Japan's Imperial Household Ministry. The construction of Hirohara Shrine was ordered by the Japanese army, in co-operation with the Japanese private sector. By the request of Viscount Kuroda Nagaatsu, then as the head of the Imperial Household Ministry's Daizen office, Suzuki Hiroyuki became notable for his work in compiling he deities associated with the ōi (大炊). His shrine architectural work includes the founding of (建武神社) in Tokyo and several temple buildings. While working as an architect, he also studied Shinto and its forms of worship under the personal supervision of a chief priest from the Suwa clan at the Shiba Shinmei Shrine (now known as ; 芝大神宮) in Tokyo. Whilst his academic studies on Ko-Shintō was by Dr. Katsuhiko Kakei, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo.
Based on this background, Suzuki Hiroyuki was entrusted with the position of Chief Construction Engineer in charge of both Army special missions and concurrently as the chief shrine priest (gūji) under a special army appointment in Medan. He was thus granted valuable experience in conducting various ritual-style ceremonies alongside the large-scale construction of shrine pavilions.
It is said that the wood used for the shrine was a “sacred tree” from deep within the Aceh mountains, supplied by the in Medan during the military occupation, and that Dutch prisoners of war and rōmusha's were employed in its construction, making it possibly one of the only shrines built by Christians. One of them was Dutch poet and writer, . In his work, De gele terreur in 1946, he once described the condition:
During the war, ceremonies were held at the Hirohara Shrine on the 1st and 15th of every month, with the 8th day designated for the (), commemorating Japan's declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire. Military personnel would visit to pray for victory, subsequently worshipping the (), a practice of bowing to the general direction of the Japanese imperial family (Miyagi) from afar. This practice seemed peculiar to the predominantly Muslim population of Medan, who pray towards Mecca (Kiblat) five times daily. During the occupation, some Japanese soldiers compelled residents, even foreigners in POW camps, to worship the Japanese imperial family from a distance, causing friction as doing Miyagi Yōhai is eastward, the exact opposite direction of Mecca in the west. Although the basics of Islam were initially taught to the top executives of Japan's military government, this education was not thoroughly implemented, leading to issues.
Shizuo Saito, a former ambassador to Indonesia and Australia and a military administrator for the former Japanese Army (part of the Gunseikanbu Somubu) during the war, cited in his writings; the "systematization of hair cutting," the "forced use of the Japanese language," and the "compulsory worship toward the Imperial Palace" as concrete examples of the Japanese military administration's ill repute. He stated that the locals were encouraged to visit the shrine and were made to worship east. Despite the destruction of these shrines by the Japanese army and locals at the end of the war, the Hirohara Shrine inexplicably remained intact. Given the limited construction during the three-year Japanese occupation of Indonesia, the Hirohara Shrine is considered a significant historical structure.
Medan club
In the aftermath of Japan's surrender, an attempt was made to dismantle the shrine from 26 August to 31 August 1945 under the orders from the Home Ministry, as to avoid the desecration of the shrine. The dismantling of the shrine was underway when it was supervised by Suzuki Hiroyuki himself, who stayed in Medan along the course of the war. Both the honden and haiden, and other small shrines on the site, were successfully dismantled. The process was abruptly ended when British forces immediately began landing at Belawan on 9 October and blitzed their way to the city of Medan, facing little to no resistance and denying any movement for the Japanese to properly undertake any decisive actions. Medanese locals had also opposed the destruction of the shrine, which slowed progress by the Japanese Army. As a result, most infrastructure and buildings in Medan, including the shamusho, remained relatively intact. In the next year, Suzuki Hiroyuki went back to Japan. During the occupation of the city of Medan by the Allies, the building was repurposed as a Dutch white supremacist clubhouse known as De Witte Sociëteit (English: The White Society.) De Witte Sociëteit was established in 1879, serving as a gathering place for the white, Dutch Totoks, Chinese, high-ranking land owners of Deli, and the Sultan of Deli himself; no Inlander and dogs would be allowed in. Their first clubhouse was located adjacent to the main post office of Medan (now the Bank BCA). The Club House was initially conceived as a convivial space for Dutch plantation owners where they could assemble for recreational activities. This encompassed partaking in beverages such as coffee, engaging in smoking, and participating in discussions from literature and business to politics, art, and culture.
Following the departure of the Dutch from Indonesia, former military members Dr. Soekarja, Dr. Hariono, and Dr. Ibrahim Irsan took over this clubhouse building and renamed it "Medan Club". The Medan Club was an exclusive establishment for the upper echelons of Medan society. Membership is required to access the Medan Club's facilities. During the 1980s, the Medan Club building underwent extensive renovations aimed at preserving its original structure and architectural features. The renovation was intended to ensure the longevity of the building, which at the time was over 80 years old, while also adapting it to remain relevant in the modern era after the reutilisation of the building from a shrine to a clubhouse. The Medan Club foundation, a foundation formerly owned by 150-200 members, that runs the operation, administration and upkeep of the former shrine, claims financial difficulties, with income derived only from monthly member fees and high operational costs. This led the delinquent absence in paying property tax since 2009, with a total debt of Rp.964,154,774, including late payment fines. The Medan Revenue Service has sent four tax invoices since 2013 and had plans to issue another one later.
Amids financial difficulties, in 2018, the owners of the Medan Club opened the Medan Club to the public and turned the Medan club from an exclusive members only club into a high-end restaurant and meeting venue. Using this option, on August 6, 2018, a seminar was held by the at the Medan Club, featuring various dignitaries as speakers to commemorate 60 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Indonesia. Attendants included university representatives, Japanese-Indonesia associations, Toyohashi city mayor , DPR-RI Senator , and others. The celebration included cultural promotions such as Shodō, Sadō, Furoshiki Wrapping, as well as performance arts such as Yosakoi dance and karate.
A year later, the owners then intended to retool the club into a 'night life' entertainment club. The sudden retooling brought scrutiny as the Medan club has not obtained the necessary business license for operating as a night entertainment venue and was only permitted under a restaurant license. Amidst financial difficulties and the high cost of maintaining the shrine building, the Club find itself at the brink of bankruptcy.
Possible demolition