Ueno Tōshō-gū is said to have been built in 1627, by Tōdō Takatora. It is known that in 1627 it was dedicated to the memory of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which effectively ruled Japan from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. In 1651 the honden of the shrine was rebuilt in the gongen-zukuristyle by Tokugawa Iemitsu, grandson of Ieyasu and the third Tokugawa shōgun. Until 1868, the shrine was part of the TendaiBuddhist templeKan'ei-ji. Unlike much of the buildings in the surrounding area, Ueno Tōshō-gū has remained intact throughout the many earthquakes, fires and wars, including the Battle of Ueno in 1868 and the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. Tokugawa Yoshimune and Tokugawa Yoshinobu are also enshrined in Ueno Tōshō-gū.
Architecture
Karamon
A karamon is a type of mon in Japanese architecture characterized by the use of karahafu, a type of curved gable with a style peculiar to Japan. The karamon at Ueno Tōshō-gū was built in 1651, and it is designated an Important Cultural Property. The pillars of the gate are decorated with two carved dragons. They are known as Noboriryu and Kudariryu, and according to the legend, every night the two dragons go to the nearby Shinobazu Pond to drink from its water. There carvings are attributed to the perhaps fictiona artist Hidari Jingorō. Jingorō is also credited with some of the decoration at the famous Nikkō Tōshō-gū in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture. In addition to the gold foil, there are several hand carved decorations, including flowers, birds and dragons on both sides of the gates. It is said that the carvings on the gate and on the sukibei wall depict a total of over two hundred species of plants and animals.
Honden
The main building of the shrine is a honden in the Gongen-zukuri style, a complex Shinto shrine structure in which the haiden, or worship hall, the heiden, or offertory hall, and the honden, are all interconnected under the same roof. The whole building dates from 1651, and it is designated an Important Cultural Property.
Access
There is no admission fee for visitors to enter most of the shrine precincts, but there is a fee in order to go beyond the karamon. This allows you see the back of the karamon and to get closer to the honden, but the hall itself remains closed. There is an extra admission fee to enter the peony garden. The shrines opens at 9 am and closes at 4:30 pm or 5:30 pm. The peony garden is open from January 1st to mid-February, and from mid-April to mid-May. Ueno Tōshō-gū is located inside of Ueno Park. As such, access is easy from the many exits to the park at Ueno Station.
