Changes

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>

Construction 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]]. 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>

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.