Shrines and Temples of Nikkō
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How it came to be
The first buildings on the slopes of the Nikko mountains were put up by a Buddhist monk in the 8th century. Temple tradition holds that the monk Shodo founded Shihonryu-ji in 766, and he made the first ascent of Mount Nantai in 782. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who died at Sunpu on 1 June 1616, was buried at Kunozan, but he had left instructions that after the first anniversary of his death a small hall should be built at Nikko to enshrine him.
In 1617 the second shogun, Hidetada, had the monk Tenkai move Ieyasu's remains to Nikko, and the imperial court gave him the divine title Tosho Daigongen. The third shogun, Iemitsu, visited Nikko in 1634 and pressed ahead with a great rebuilding of the shrine for the 21st anniversary of Ieyasu's death in 1636. The shrine was renamed Toshogu in 1645, the Taiyuin mausoleum of Iemitsu was built in 1653, and in 1655 the retired emperor Go-Mizunoo gave the temple the name Rinno-ji.
The property comprises 103 buildings in two shrines and one temple, 42 at Toshogu, 23 at Futarasan Shrine and 38 at Rinno-ji; nine are National Treasures and 94 are Important Cultural Properties. The surrounding cedar forest was planted in the early 17th century while Toshogu was being built. The site was inscribed in 1999.
Travellers who came here
- 1689
He spent one night at Nikkō and, after worshipping at Tōshōgū, wrote "How holy: green leaves, young leaves, in the light of the sun" (translation).
- 1878-06
She took rooms in the house of Kanaya Zenichirō. She went to look at the Yōmei gate of the Tōshōgū day after day, and wrote that her astonishment grew each time.
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