Photo Gallery

Tōshō-gū Mausoleum - 東照宮 (built 1616-36)

Tōshō-gū Shrine is the final resting place of Togukawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the founder of the Togukawa Shogunate which ruled Japan from the battle of Segigahara in 1600 through the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Toward the end of his life, Ieyasu had become interested in the esoteric doctrines of Shinto and received training and assistance from the priests Tenkai and Bonshun. In his will, Ieyasu stated that after his death, he would become a god to watch over the house of Togukawa, and instructed that he should be enshrined at Mt. Nikkō one year after his death. This follows the precedent of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, enshrined at the Toyokuni Shrine in Nikkō, and Fujiwara no Kamatari (614-69), enshrined at the Danzan Shrine in Nara. Ieyasu hoped that in death, he would remain an object of worship for future generations.

Ieyasu's wishes were put into effect. Immediately following his death on April 17, 1616 in what is now the city of Shizuoka, his body was transferred to Mount Kumo at the edge of the city and temporarily interred there through March 1617. His body was then moved through various areas of the Kanto and arrived in Nikkō on April 4th. He was enshrined at the uppermost area of the shrine (what is now the Okusha). Then on April 17th, a consecration ceremony was performed at Tōshō-gū.

Ieyasu's choice of Nikkō as his final resting place is slightly puzzling, considering that he had never visited Nikkō in his lifetime. He likely heard of the area through his attendant Tenkai, then the abbot of Rinno-ji temple in Nikkō. Tenkai would have made Ieyasu aware of the long tradition in the Kanto region of reverencing the Nikkō area for its reputation as a sacred place amidst splendid natural beauty. He also may have been motivated by personal reasons--having a major shrine constructed adjacent to Rinno-Ji would surely have advanced the temples own fortunes (this has proven to be the case).

The architecture of the Tōshō-gū shrine is like no other shrine in Japan. In her book on Edo architecture, Naomi Ogawa writes "The enticing power of the Toshu-gu is in its total synthesis of architectural design, which unfolds like a gigantic picture scroll". This is an apt metaphor. Like a picture scroll, the site is partitioned into a number of discreet views as a consequence of the heavily sloped mountain topography. Also like a picture scroll, there are numerous visual markers to delight the eye--the entire shrine consists of dozens of independent structures fashioned in a large variety of architectural styles.

Most of the individual buildings are described in greater detail in the captions accompanying the photographs above. Of the overall design, suffice it to say that the Tōshō-gū has been likened to Baroque architecture in the west, with its heavy emphasis on dramatic forms, heavy use of sculpture and ornamentation, and an overall impression of visual grandeur. This is not entirely the case for all buildings at Tōshō-gū, but it is clear that Togukawa Ieyasu saw the value of this sort of architecture in creating a monument to himself that would attest to his own power, grandeur, and self-assurance that would stand the test of time and provide a living memorial to his historical presence as the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty.