Ueno Tōshō-gū

Plan of the shrine (see text)

The Ueno Tōshō-gū ( Japanese 上野東照宮 ) is a Shintō shrine in the Taitō district in Tokyo. Tokugawa Ieyasu , posthumously Tōshō Daigongen (東照大権現) is revered .

introduction

In 1627, by order of Tokugawa Iemitsu, a first shrine was built on Ueno Hill in memory of Tokugawa Ieyasu under the name Tōshōsha (東照社), who in 1646 received the more significant name 東照宮. This was replaced in 1651 by a successor building that has been preserved to this day. Before you get there, in the park on the right-hand side, there is a huge, stone-made lantern from 1632, which is called "ばけ灯籠" (Bake dōro, ghost lantern). The stone Myōjin Torii (明神鳥居) was donated by Sakai Tadayo (酒井忠世; 1572–1636), daimyo in Maebashi and confidante of the Tokugawa family, and is registered as an important cultural asset .

The path to the shrine is lined with around 280 stone lanterns and 50 bronze lanterns, which are also registered as an important cultural asset. The bronze lanterns immediately after the torii indicate Tōdō Takatora (1556–1660) as the donor. Before the Kan'ei-ji was built on Ueno Hill, there was a secondary residence (下屋敷) of the Tōdō family. Part of it was already used in 1627 for the first toshogu at this point. Takatora's bronze lanterns date from that time.

The construction

Under the supervision of the Bakufu, the Tōshōgū stood at Edo Castle , there in the castle area Momijiyama (紅葉山), the Nikkō Tōshō-gū , the Kunōzan Tōshōgū (久能山東照宮) in Shizuoka Prefecture and the Ueno Tōshōgū. They all have a construction that is called the "Gongen construction" (権現造). The construction is characterized by the fact that the buildings customary for Shinto shrines, namely devotional hall (拝殿, Haiden; C) and sanctuary (本殿, Honden; A) are connected by a closed connector B. The prayer hall is 15.82 m wide and 6.55 m deep, the connector measures 7.09 × 7.09 m and the sanctuary is 7.09 m wide and 6.82 m deep.

In 1866 the gate for the imperial messenger (勅使門, Chokushi-mon) and part of the passageways burned down, but the entrance gate (唐門, Karamon), surrounding fences (透塀, Tsukashibei), prayer hall and sanctuary have been preserved and are important cultural assets registered. The ascending and descending dragons carved on the goal post are said to have been designed by the carver Hidari Jingorō (左甚五郎), who also worked in Nikkō. KaiserGo-Mizunoo created the design for the gilded inscription “東照宮” at the entrance to the prayer hall . The ceiling of the prayer hall and part of the walls were painted by Kanō Tan'yū with lions in the style of Karashishi (唐獅子).