On this day, 34 years ago, on January 10, 1991 (November 25, 1990, the Sendai High Court of Japan ruled that visiting the Yasukuni Shrine by government cabinet members was unconstitutional. After former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone officially visited the Yasukuni Shrine for the first time in 1985, many lawsuits were filed across Japan regarding the Yasukuni Shrine issue. On January 10, 1991, the Sendai High Court opened a hearing on the "Yasukuni Shrine Action" against residents of Iwate Prefecture. The lawsuit held that the Iwate Prefectural Council's resolution in 1979 requiring the emperor, prime minister and others to formally visit the Yasukuni Shrine, and the 1981 payment by 35 people including the Prefectural Speaker and Prefectural Governor of incense money for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine at public expense violated the Constitution's principle of separation of church and state., and demanded the recovery of incense money totaling more than 20,000 yen. After trial, the Sendai High Court ruled that "official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine have religious significance in terms of purpose. It should be said to be an act of arousing concern for a specific religion and belongs to a religious act prohibited by the Constitution." "The payment of incense money, etc. undermines the neutrality of the Iwate Prefecture authorities who pursue the principle of separation of church and state." The Iwate Prefecture authorities refused to accept the above judgment and filed a special appeal with the Supreme Court of Japan. On September 25, 1991, Japan's Supreme Court today rejected the special appeal of the Iwate Prefectural Assembly and prefectural authorities, ruling that official visits by government cabinet members and other officials to the Yasukuni Shrine violated the Constitution.