Toshogu Shrine

Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan after a century of civil war and died in 1616. The following year, his grandson commissioned a shrine on a scale specifically designed to project the permanence of Tokugawa rule: 55 buildings, every surface carved and lacquered, every detail communicating that this dynasty would last as long as the sun and moon. The dynasty lasted 250 years. The shrine has been standing for 400.

Most Japanese shrine architecture follows principles of restraint and natural materials. Toshogu violates every one of them, deliberately and completely.

The Complex

Toshogu is 140 kilometres north of Tokyo in Nikko. The Yomeimon Gate, the most photographed element, is 11 metres tall and covered in over 600 individual carvings depicting mythological animals, birds, flowers, and court figures. It is overwhelming and was designed to be. A single pillar has inverted carvings, a common device in Japanese sacred architecture to introduce deliberate imperfection and avoid the hubris of perfection.

The Three Wise Monkeys are carved in a stable building on the approach path: a panel depicting three monkeys covering their eyes, ears, and mouth. This is the earliest known visual representation of the concept; the Toshogu version is the one the phrase comes from.

The Nemurineko (Sleeping Cat) above a gateway is small and usually surrounded by people photographing it. Beyond it, 207 stone steps climb through old-growth cedar forest to the inner mausoleum where Ieyasu’s remains are held. The transition from the overwhelming ornament of the main complex to this spare, mossy, nearly silent forest is genuinely startling.

Rinnoji Temple and Kegon Falls

Rinnoji Temple adjacent to Toshogu predates the shrine by 850 years, founded in 766 CE. The Shoyo-en garden provides a quiet counterpoint to the crowd density at Toshogu.

Kegon Falls, reached by the Irohazaka mountain road with 48 hairpin bends, drops 97 metres from the Lake Chuzenji outlet. Best light in the morning.

Getting There

Tobu Specia limited express from Asakusa Station in Tokyo, about 110 minutes, around JPY 2,720. An early departure arriving before 9:30am leaves enough time for the full shrine complex and Kegon Falls before returning.

The Nikko Kanaya Hotel at 1300 Kami-Hatsuishimachi, open since 1873, hosted Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein. Worth knowing about for an overnight visit.