Nikko Toshogu

• Japanese: 日光東照宮 (Nikkou Toushouguu)

Nikkô Tôshôgû is a Shinto shrine in Nikkô, dedicated to Tôshô-gongen, the deified Tokugawa Ieyasu. Originally constructed in the early 17th century, the many buildings in the complex are the defining example of the elaborately decorative gongen-zukuri architectural style.

Layout

One of the most famous sights within the Tôshôgû complex is the Yômeimon, a large karamon ("Chinese gate") loaded with intricately detailed carving and decorative elaboration. Named after one of the gates to the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the Yômeimon includes over 500 relief depictions of animals and people, including ones of elephants, giraffes, and other creatures about which knowledge was surely second or third-hand. Paintings of dragons by Kanô Tan'yû are located inside the gateway.

The five-story pagoda at Tôshôgû was originally built in 1650, destroyed by fire, and rebuilt in 1818.

One of the many large torii on the site bears calligraphy from the hand of Emperor Go-Mizunoo reading "Tôshô Dai-gongen."

The stables at the shrine house a special white horse, closely associated with the Emperor; in recent decades, each successive white horse has been a gift to Japan from the government of New Zealand. The stables also bear, within their carved decorations, what may be the original depiction of the "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" monkeys (J: mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru).

History

The shrine has undergone repair and restoration efforts on numerous occasions, including one effort in the 1740s-1750s, in which Miyagawa Chôshun took part.

The complex was divided in three by the Meiji government in 1871 - Tôshôgu and Futarasan Shrine as Shinto shrines, and Rinnô-ji as a Buddhist temple. This came at a time when a nationalist/Imperial cult of Shinto was being constructed, and the "foreign" religion of Buddhism was losing favor in the government. Matsudaira Katamori became the chief priest of the shrine in 1880.

The "Shrines and Temples of Nikko [sic]" were named a World Heritage Site in 1999.