According to Wednesday reports from Kyodo News and NHK, the Fukuoka District Court made the ruling in a case brought before it in which 211 religious leaders from Kyushu sued the prime minister and the state for damages worth Y20.011 million for mental distress.

The court ruled, however, that the plaintiff's religious freedom was not violated.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi led by a Shinto priest during a visit to a controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo honouring Japan's war dead, January 1, 2004./Yonhap

This is the first time a Japanese court has ruled that the prime minister's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine are a violation of the constitution.

Since becoming prime minister, Koizumi has visited the shrine four times, but the court's ruling that the visits represent clear violations of the constitution is expected to influence greatly similar cases around the country and create major waves politically.

Kamekawa Kiyonaga, the presiding judge in the case, said in his ruling that most people would consider the prime minister's visits religious in nature, and religious activity on the part of state bodies is forbidden by Article 20 of the constitution.

Article 20, Clause 1 of the Japanese constitution reads, "Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority," while Clause 3 of the same article reads, "The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity."

The court said, "Despite strong opposition from within the Liberal Democratic Party and ordinary citizens, Koizumi went four times to Yasukuni, which cannot be said to be the best place to honour war dead. This was based on political calculations."

In particular, the court pointed out that praying at the Yasukuni Shrine -- a religious institution -- as the prime minister of the country was a violation of Article 20, Clause 3 because it falls under the religious activity proscribed in the clause.

The Japanese government argued during the case that since a cabinet vote had never been taken on the issue, the prime minister's visits were not official in nature.

Koizumi, however, signed his name in the shrine's guest book as prime minister, he was attended by his secretarial staff and used his official car to make the visit.

About this, the plaintiffs in the case complained that the prime minister's participation in religious acts during the visit (like the "oharai" purification ritual) fell under acts forbidden by the constitution and were violations of their freedom of religion "forced through despite criticism from home and abroad." The plaintiffs demanded Y100,000 each.

Besides the Fukuoka court, there are suits concerning Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visits pending in district courts in six places, including Tokyo, Chiba, Osaka, Mazuyama and Naha. The Osaka and Mazuyama dismissed the original suits without ruling on the visits' constitutional status; the plaintiffs are appealing.

(englishnews@chosun.com )