Skip to main content

Toshogu Shrine

Tōshō-gū (東照宮) is any Shinto shrine in which Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the last shogunate of Japan, is enshrined with the name Tōshō Daigongen (東照大権現).

Tōshō-gū shrines are found throughout Japan. The most famous Tōshō-gū is located in Nikkō in Tochigi Prefecture. It is one of Japan's most popular destinations for tourists.



Ieyasu's son, the second shogun Hidetada, ordered the construction of the Nikkō Tōshō-gū. Later, the third shogun Iemitsu had the shrine greatly enlarged and lavishly decorated.

The Tōshō-gū at Ueno Park in Tokyo is also widely known. Another, at Kunozan in Shizuoka prefecture, rivals Nikkō's for decorative splendor. A Tōshō-gū can also be found at Miyanochō, in Sendai.

During the Edo period, these shrines reached 500 in number. After the Meiji Restoration, many were abandoned, and others united with shrines in the area. Presently, there are about 130 Tōshō-gū.

How to get there
Toshogu and Nikko's other main shrines and temples are located a 30 minute walk or 10 minute bus ride (300 Yen one way, 500 Yen day pass, covered by the Tobu free passes) from Tobu and JR Nikko Stations.

Click here for map

Hours and fee
Hours: April - October 8:00 - 17:00; November - March 8:00-16:00
Cost: ¥1300 (or ¥1,000 for a combination ticket to Rinnoji, Toshogu, and Futarasan); extra fees for a Shinto tour, the treasure house, and the art museum

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey Photo Gallery You can find here a romantic ruins, 36 acres peaceful parkland with pounds, orchard and wildlife areas. Also you can find unusual gift at Glastonbury Gift Shop that sit beside ticket office. History In 1955 Ralegh Radford's excavations uncovered Romano-British pottery at the west end of the nave. Saxon era A community of monks were already established at Glastonbury when King Ine of Wessex enriched their endowment. He is said to have directed that a stone church be built in 712, the foundations of which now form the west end of the nave. Glastonbury was ravaged by the Danes in the ninth century. The contemporary reformed soldier Saint Neot was sacristan at Glastonbury before he went to found his own establishment in Somerset. The abbey church was enlarged in the tenth century by the Abbot of Glastonbury, Saint Dunstan, the central figure in the tenth-century revival of English monastic life, who instituted the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury. Dunstan

St-Etienne-du-Mont - Gallery

Kenroku-en Garden

Kenroku-en (兼六園, Six Attributes Garden), located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, is an old private garden developed from the 1620s to 1840s by the Maeda clan, the daimyo who ruled the former Kaga Domain. Along with Kairaku-en and Koraku-en, Kenroku-en is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. It is open year-round during daylight hours and famous for its beauty in all seasons; an admission fee is charged. The garden is located outside the gates of Kanazawa Castle where it originally formed the outer garden, and covers 114,436.65 m² (over 25 acres). It began in 1676 when the 5th lord Maeda Tsunanori moved his administration to the castle and began to landscape a garden in this vicinity. This garden was, however, destroyed by fire in 1759. Its restoration was begun in 1774 by the 11th lord Harunaga, who created the Emerald Waterfall (Midori-taki) and Yugao-tei, a teahouse. Improvements continued in 1822 when the 12th lord Narinaga created the garden's winding streams with water drawn