Last Thursday, I made a visit to this shrine on the basis of reading about how the first Tokugawa(Ieyasu) was deified. This shrine is his resting place and is tucked in a pretty rural part of Japan. If you’re coming from Tokyo, it is simply a matter of taking the Tohoku Shinkansen till Utsunomiya and transferring to the Nikko line at that station. Unfortunately, the Nikko line only comes about once an hour I believe. If you want to enjoy more scenery on your way, you can take local lines, but it is already a two hour commute with the Shinkansen + Nikko line. Once you make it to Nikko station, you can opt to take a bus or walk to Toshogu. However, it is far easier to get the bus. The entrance is about two miles or so away and up some pretty steep hills. If you have SUICA, you can use it to pay your fare. I’m sure other IC cards work just as well.
Nikko has an entrance fee of around 1300 yen. You can easily spend two hours here if you take your time sightseeing and photographing everything you see, so it’s worth it for people like me who like this sort of stuff. This shrine is dedicated to Ieyasu who was eventually deified as a Shinto deity “Taisho Daigongen” meaning Great Deity of the Eastern Light. Toshogu’s current magnificence and splendor is owed to his grandson Hidetada who built largely upon the initial mausoleum as not only a way of honoring him, but probably to show others the power of the Tokugawa.
Before you enter the paid section, there is a five story pagoda and the Torii gate. Toshogu mixes elements of both Buddhism and Shintoism. This mixing and sharing of elements is reflective of Japanese religious culture up until forced separation during the Meiji and war periods. Most shrines and temples of some age symbolize this pre-war mix and for the most part it is the reality again in contemporary times.
Going past the reception office, you will see something similar to the gate with guardian deities from Sensoji. From there, you can see a plethora of buildings laced with gold trimmings and intricate patterns.
According to the guide, they are merely storehouses. However, there are some with wooden carvings depicting famous sayings and animals like monkeys. The only photograph I have of this particular storehouse doesn’t showcase the carvings very well, but a lot of Toshogu’s buildings have animal carvings or animal imagery laced into their structure.
Passing this area gets you to the famous Yomeimon gate. Right now, it is under construction for restoration, but here’s a photo for you to get an idea of how pretty it is.
When you make your way up the stairs here, you can see some buildings to your right and possibly mediation places. You can also see some imagery carved on the wall of the Yomeimon gate from either side. The left side leads to a hall which I forgot to pass by on my way out. Through Yomeimon, you are introduced to the main shrine building. I feel that this building aside all others best represents the beauty and luxury of this place.
Looking closely, you can see the patterns of dragons on the white columns mixed with the gold. On the sides of this entrance are animal carvings on the bottom with gold racing the sides on both the bottom and top. If you look closely, you can see the crest of Tokugawa on the end of each of those long pipes. Past this entrance, there’s a main prayer hall where services are like information sessions about Tokugawa and Nikko are held. There’s also actual prayer and meditation sessions too as I stumbled into one when I went.
Following the path forth leads you up a hike to the final resting place of Ieyasu. For all the frills of the surrounding area, his grave didn’t have the same luxuriousness or display of wealth/power. It’s a bit of a steep climb for those with bad knees, but you can take your time getting up.
You can only walk around the grave. Only the priests of Toshogu can actually enter this site from the little building in front of it. In this picture, you can see the urn containing his remains and what looks like a statue of a pelican. On the other side, there’s a large tree which some Japanese prayed too. Not sure why and I didn’t think to ask at the time. There’s also a booth with some priests/priestesses selling charms, beads, and other religious items.
My biggest gripe with this place was honestly not being able to enter into that sanctum to take a better picture of the grave. Yet, if you’re like me and enjoy seeing historically and culturally important places like Nikko then it’s worth your time. The town is also nice to explore and there’s a temple and shrine within walking distance of Toshogu, but I don’t know if you have to pay for those as well.
Till next time,
Adrian
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