Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed to continue his controversial visits to a war shrine, despite a court declaring the pilgrimages unconstitutional in a landmark decision.
Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni shrine, which honours war criminals among the nation's 2.5 million war dead, have enraged China and South Korea, which both suffered under Japanese occupation during World War II.
The Fukuoka District Court said in ruling on a claim for damages Wednesday that Koizumi's visits were political in nature and therefore unconstitutional.
The ruling handed more than 200 relatives of the war dead and members of religious groups a moral victory but their claims for damages were rejected.
Koizumi immediately vowed to continue his annual pilgrimage.
"I cannot understand why it violates the constitution as I pay homage due to my personal beliefs," he said. "I will continue to visit."
Legal experts said the lower court ruling was not legally binding as it was a collateral opinion, not the main judgment on the damages claim, and Japan had no legal framework for people to seek declaratory judgments.
The case was brought by 211 plaintiffs after Koizumi visited Yasukuni on August 13, 2001 which they claimed violated the constitutional separation of state and religion and caused them mental suffering. They had sought damages of 100,000 yen (943 dollars) each, but no injunction.
Professor Kenichi Nagai, a constitutional expert at Tokyo's Kokushikan University said it was "up to Mr. Koizumi to decide whether to follow the court's ruling. As a good citizen, he should follow what the court says."
Presiding judge Kiyonaga Kamegawa said Koizumi's four visits since taking office were "based on political intentions."
Koizumi's visits amounted to an "execution of duties by the prime minister" as he used an official chauffeured car and signed "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi" in the shrine's registry book.
"Judging by ordinary common sense ... the act is tantamount to religious activity," by an organ of the State which is forbidden by Japan's constitution, the judge was quoted as saying by Jiji Press.
The government's top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda called the ruling "regrettable", saying while a public figure, Koizumi visited the shrine to reflect "his private, personal feelings," and the use of an official car was for security reasons.
Historian Hideaki Kase, a commentator on diplomatic issues, said the ruling would please China and South Korea but represented "no blow" to Koizumi.
"He will carry on visiting with no major disturbance at home ... as the question of whether he went there in his official or private capacity is silly to begin with."
The court rejected the claim for financial redress on the grounds that the shrine visit did not result in any specific disadvantage for the plaintiffs and did not deprive them of their right to freedom of religion.
Koizumi's argument that he visited the shrine as an anti-war gesture has not deterred a string of civil lawsuits in Japan, but this is the first time a court has declared his visits unconstitutional.
Two earlier cases in which damages and an injunction against Koizumi's visits were turned down are now on appeal in the High Court. Three other cases are pending.
A 1985 Yasukuni visit by then prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, the first premier to declare he was going in his official capacity, also prompted lawsuits, but resulted in equivocal rulings.