NIKKO TOSHOGU SHRINE

A Shinto shrine in Tochigi Prefecture about two to three hours from Tokyo by car. This 400-year-old shrine is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, who ended the civil wars to bring a long period of peace and stability to Japan. It is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The shrine was named Tosho, which means “enlightening east,” based on the belief that Ieyasu, after his passing, would become a deity to protect Japan by casting light on the land from the east. The buildings and woodwork are breathtakingly brilliant and colorful. Included among the numerous examples there is theYōmeimon Gate, which is decorated with 240,000 sheets of gold leaf and more than 5,000 meticulously carved objects. Despite Ieyasu’s will containing instructions to build a simple and modest shrine, his grandson Iemitsu chose to make it lavishly gorgeous to show off his power and authority. I guess the universal truth applies here as well: Children (or grandchildren) can easily fail to understand what their parents (or grandparents) truly intended.