Hoanden in Tomari

In the town of Tomari, on the southwestern coast of Sakhalin, in the Tomarinsky municipal district, the remains of a hoanden survive — a small Shinto pavilion from the time of the Japanese rule of the island. It was built during the Karafuto period, when southern Sakhalin belonged to Japan (1905-1945). Today only the foundation stones remain, overgrown with grass, and Tomari itself is an ordinary district center of Sakhalin Oblast on the shore of the Tatar Strait.

What a hoanden is

A hoanden, or goshin'ei hoanden ("shrine of the imperial family"), is a fireproof concrete pavilion. The Japanese administration began building such structures next to every school on Karafuto from the first years of the Showa era. They were used to keep a portrait of the emperor and a copy of the Imperial Rescript on Education, a document that was read aloud at ceremonies in Japanese schools of the time. Teachers were instructed to save these relics first in case of fire or any other disaster, even before the pupils: the fireproof concrete construction was meant to guarantee their safety under any circumstances.

Local lore

According to old residents' memories, as children they simply called such buildings a "Japanese booth," without attaching any meaning to their real purpose. Over time the original meaning of these structures was forgotten: for several generations of Sakhalin residents who grew up after 1945, hoanden remained nameless concrete boxes standing in the grass, and their connection to school ceremonies and the cult of the emperor became known only later, through local history research.

What remains

Only stone remains overgrown with thick grass have survived from the hoanden in Tomari to this day. Sources disagree on the exact location: according to some accounts, the ruins are near the mouth of the Krasnaya River, on Primorskaya Street, while others place them closer to Ugolnaya Street. Similar confusion is typical of other Sakhalin hoanden: some of them now sit on private land, which makes access and inspection considerably harder.

Getting there

Tomari can be reached by rail from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, a trip of about four hours. In the town itself, visitors should be ready to search: the exact address of the hoanden is not fixed, the site is overgrown with vegetation, and part of the nearby land may belong to private owners.