Monkeying Around at Toshogu Shrine: Nikko, Part 3

Nikko's main attraction is Toshogu, a Shinto shrine surrounding the final resting place of Ieyasu Tokugawa, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. In case you've forgotten, the Tokugawas ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868.

Ieyasu is credited with uniting Japan after decade upon decade of civil strife, although at least one historian wryly notes that Ieyasu just happened to be the last of three close comrades still standing after the final battle. I recently spotted an unattributed Japanese proverb in a Laura Joh Rowland mystery that goes something like "Oda sowed the grain, Hideyoshi baked the bread, and Tokugawa ate the bread."

He was 60 when he was installed as Seii-taishogun in 1603 and resigned two years later to ensure his son's smooth succession and to focus on diplomatic and building projects (this was the beginning of what history now calls the "Edo Era" because he moved the seat of government from Kyoto to what is now Tokyo).

When he died in 1616 at the age of 73, he was enshrined in accordance with his last wishes.  "Enshrine my dead body in Mt. Kuno  for the first year of the death . . . and build a small shrine in Nikko and enshrine me as the god.  I will be the guardian of Japan."

Mt. Kuno was his hometown.  He chose Nikko as his final resting place because Nikko is located north of Tokyo and north was considered the taboo direction, the direction from which demons come (forgive the messenger, Russian readers).  Tokugawa chose to position himself in Nikko to protect Japan from "the evil things".

Although Ieyasu specifically requested "a small shrine", his grandson Iemitsu later decided to transform Toshogu into a stark reminder of the family's power and wealth.  About 40 billion yen (at today's rate) and more than 4.5 million workers labored for one year and five months to construct the shrine buildings we see today.

Enough with the pedantry.  Let's go in.

One of the first things to catch our eye is a colorful five-story pagoda (right) contributed by Tadakatsu Sakai in 1650.  The pagoda burned down in 1815 but was reconstructed to withstand earthquakes three years later by a descendant of Tadakatsu.   (Of parenthetical interest, Tadakatsu was the governor of Obama in Fukui Prefecture.  Obama means "little beach" in Japanese.)

The Sacred Stable with eight monkey panels

Next we enter a large courtyard and find three large storehouses facing a sacred stable (shinkyu).  Two sacred horses, they must be white, rotate stable duty for four hours every day.  They don't have to work on days when it rains or snows.

We're in luck! We've managed to arrive at the sacred stable after 10am and before 2pm on a balmy day so we catch a glimpse of a sacred horse.

To my credit, I succeed in taking this picture without blasting out the chorus of the Mr. Ed Theme Song.

Now let's go back outside and take another gander at those eight monkey panels scrolling across the front of the stable.  These carved panels are called sansaru (three monkeys) and work like a picture book.  To read the story, click here.

Of the 8,914 people who visited Toshogu on November 2, we are the only four who did not recreate the second panel for posterity.  How unlike me.

"Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil"

"Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil, see no evil"

Until today, I had no earthly idea those three monkeys are Japanese creations. They even have names! And, yes, they might have been born in India and wandered through China before they reached Japan, but we have to give Japan credit for the catchy slogan. Why? Wikipedia says so. If you don't believe me, or if you want to know the full story and see how good I am at summarizing, please click here.

Toshogu Shrine is fun!  Now let's wander up those steps to that big gate thing.