Changes

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. 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>

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. 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 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>

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.