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The site was chosen by Tokugawa Ieyasu himself for this purpose, i.e., namely, the location of a mausoleum and shrine to him as a deified protector of the country. As Nikkô is located directly north of the Tokugawa capital of [[Edo]], some have suggested that the site was chosen as part of a discourse connecting Tôshô-daigongen (the deified Ieyasu) with the North Star, as a protective deity.<ref>Maehira Fusaaki, "''Edo bakufu to Ryûkyû shisetsu - Tôshôgû sankei wo chûshin ni''" 江戸幕府と琉球使節～東照宮参詣を中心に, in ''Ryûkyû shisetsu, Edo he iku!'', Okinawa Prefectural Museum (2009), 67.</ref>

The site was chosen by Tokugawa Ieyasu himself for this purpose, i.e., namely, the location of a mausoleum and shrine to him as a deified protector of the country. As Nikkô is located directly north of the Tokugawa capital of [[Edo]], some have suggested that the site was chosen as part of a discourse connecting Tôshô-daigongen (the deified Ieyasu) with the North Star, as a protective deity.<ref>Maehira Fusaaki, "''Edo bakufu to Ryûkyû shisetsu - Tôshôgû sankei wo chûshin ni''" 江戸幕府と琉球使節～東照宮参詣を中心に, in ''Ryûkyû shisetsu, Edo he iku!'', Okinawa Prefectural Museum (2009), 67.</ref>

Following his death, Ieyasu was first enshrined at [[Kunozan Toshogu Shrine|Kunôzan Tôshôgû]]. Construction at Nikkô began in [[1636]] under the third Tokugawa shogun, [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]], and in [[1646]], a mission was sent from the Imperial Court to visit Nikkô. Shoguns paid regular formal visits to the shrine as well, and in the 17th century, [[Korean embassies to Edo|Korean]] and [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo]] were obliged to journey to the shrine as well (beginning in the 18th century, they visited [[Ueno Toshogu|Ueno Tôshôgû]] instead). A visit to the shrine by [[Tokugawa Ieharu]], if it can be taken as typical, involved a nine-day journey, and the shogun was accompanied by roughly 230,000 porters, 620,000 guards, and 305,000 horses.<ref>Anne Walthall, "Hiding the shoguns: Secrecy and the nature of political authority in Tokugawa Japan," in Bernard Scheid and Mark Teeuwen (eds.) ''The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion'', Routledge (2006), 352n3.</ref>

Following his death, Ieyasu was first enshrined at [[Kunozan Toshogu Shrine|Kunôzan Tôshôgû]], and then less than a year later his body and spirit were relocated to a shrine at Nikkô, as a result of efforts by the Buddhist priest & shogunal advisor [[Tenkai]]. Tenkai also established another Tôshôgû within his [[Tendai]] school that same year ([[1617]]), and the shogunate established yet another, within the grounds of [[Edo castle]], the following year. Further Tôshôgû shrines were established at [[Owari han|Nagoya]] in [[1619]] and [[Mito han|Mito]] and [[Wakayama han|Kishû]] in [[1621]]. Many other ''daimyô'' and major Buddhist temples followed suit.<ref>Morgan Pitelka, ''Spectacular Accumulation'', University of Hawaii Press (2016), 147.</ref>

 

Construction at Nikkô on a fuller, grander, shrine began in [[1634]] under the third Tokugawa shogun, [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]]. This project cost, in the end, some 568,000 [[currency|gold ''ryô'']], 100 ''kanme'' of silver, and 1,000 ''[[koku]]'' of rice; by some estimates, this amounted to roughly 1/5th of Iemitsu's total inheritance from his father.<ref>Adam Clulow, ''The Company and the Shogun'', Columbia University Press (2014), 250.</ref> The new structures were among the most ornate in the entire realm, and are decorated with 644 images of animals, 950 of birds, and 1,423 of plants. The expansion project was completed in roughly two years, in time for mourning ceremonies for the 20th anniversary of Ieyasu's death, held on [[1636]]/4/17.<ref>Pitelka, 149.</ref>

 

A mission was sent from the Imperial Court in [[1646]] to visit Nikkô. Shoguns and other members of the Tokugawa family paid formal visits to the shrine as well on seventeen occasions over the course of the Edo period, beginning in 1617 (with most of these visits taking place early on, during the reigns of Tokugawa Hidetada and Iemitsu). Additional "shogunal" visits to the shrine were performed by shogunate officials (''[[koke|kôke]]'', specifically) acting as the shogun's proxy.<ref>Daniele Lauro, "Displaying authority: Guns, political legitimacy, and martial pageantry in Tokugawa Japan, 1600 - 1868," MA Thesis, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2013), 34.</ref> Further, on several occasions in the 17th century, [[Korean embassies to Edo|Korean]] and [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo]] were obliged to journey to the shrine as well (beginning in the 18th century, they visited [[Ueno Toshogu|Ueno Tôshôgû]] instead). A visit to the shrine by [[Tokugawa Ieharu]], if it can be taken as typical, involved a nine-day journey, and the shogun was accompanied by roughly 230,000 porters, 620,000 guards, and 305,000 horses.<ref>Anne Walthall, "Hiding the shoguns: Secrecy and the nature of political authority in Tokugawa Japan," in Bernard Scheid and Mark Teeuwen (eds.) ''The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion'', Routledge (2006), 352n3.</ref>

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

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

The complex was divided in three by the [[Meiji government]] in [[1871]] - Tôshôgu and Futarasan Shrine as Shinto shrines, and [[Rinno-ji|Rinnô-ji]] as a [[Buddhist temple]].<ref name=unesco>"[http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/913 Shrines and Temples of Nikko]." UNESCO World Heritage Sites official webpage. UNESCO, 2012.</ref> 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 complex was divided in three by the [[Meiji government]] in [[1871]] - Tôshôgu and [[Futaarasan Shrine]] as Shinto shrines, and [[Rinno-ji|Rinnô-ji]] as a [[Buddhist temple]].<ref name=unesco>"[http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/913 Shrines and Temples of Nikko]." UNESCO World Heritage Sites official webpage. UNESCO, 2012.</ref> 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.<ref name=unesco/>

The "Shrines and Temples of Nikko [sic]" were named a [[World Heritage Site]] in 1999.<ref name=unesco/>