Nikkō Tōshō-gū - Yōmei-mon
Nikkō Tōshō-gū (日光東照宮) is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
The Yōmei-mon (陽明門), or the Sunset Gate or Sunlight Gate, also known as the Higurashi-mon, or Twilight Gate or From Sunrise to Sunset Gate, as visitors can spend all day looking at it, was constructed in 1636. The wooden gate is more in the Chinese style than the Japanese style, lavishly decorated with glimmering gold leaf and 508 intricate, colored carvings.
A seated statue of Hideyoshi Toyotomi is placed on the right side of the gate, and a seated statue of Yoritomo Minamoto on the left.
The final supporting pillar of the gate is placed upside down--a deliberate error to introduce imperfection and thus avoid arousing envy in the gods.
Nikkō Tōshō-gū (日光東照宮) is a lavishly decorated shrine complex consisting of more than a dozen Shinto and Buddhist buildings set in a beautiful forest. It was initially built during the Edo period in 1617 by Tokugawa Hidetada (徳川 秀忠), the second shogun, as a simple mausoleum for his father, Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康) (1543-1615), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Ieyasu was buried on Mount Kunozan on his death in 1616, but according to his testament, his remains were to be moved to their last resting place at Nikko. It was enlarged during the first half of the 187th century by Ieyasu’s grandson, Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川 家光), the third shogun. Some 15,000 craftsmen were employed on the construction of the Toshogu Shrine, most of them coming from Kyoto and Nara, where there was a great flowering of architecture at that period. The result was a complex of buildings with an over-lavish profusion of decoration, incorporating all the sumptuousness of the preceding Momoyama period.
Today the shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Ieyasu and two other of Japan's most influential historical personalities—Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉) (1536-1598), a daimyo (territorial lord) in the Sengoku period who unified political factions of Japan; and Minamoto no Yorimoto (源 頼朝) (1147-1199), the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199.
Together with Futarasan Shrine and Rinnō-ji, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 42 structures of the shrine included in the nomination.
Nikkō Tōshō-gū - Yōmei-mon
Nikkō Tōshō-gū (日光東照宮) is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
The Yōmei-mon (陽明門), or the Sunset Gate or Sunlight Gate, also known as the Higurashi-mon, or Twilight Gate or From Sunrise to Sunset Gate, as visitors can spend all day looking at it, was constructed in 1636. The wooden gate is more in the Chinese style than the Japanese style, lavishly decorated with glimmering gold leaf and 508 intricate, colored carvings.
A seated statue of Hideyoshi Toyotomi is placed on the right side of the gate, and a seated statue of Yoritomo Minamoto on the left.
The final supporting pillar of the gate is placed upside down--a deliberate error to introduce imperfection and thus avoid arousing envy in the gods.
Nikkō Tōshō-gū (日光東照宮) is a lavishly decorated shrine complex consisting of more than a dozen Shinto and Buddhist buildings set in a beautiful forest. It was initially built during the Edo period in 1617 by Tokugawa Hidetada (徳川 秀忠), the second shogun, as a simple mausoleum for his father, Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康) (1543-1615), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Ieyasu was buried on Mount Kunozan on his death in 1616, but according to his testament, his remains were to be moved to their last resting place at Nikko. It was enlarged during the first half of the 187th century by Ieyasu’s grandson, Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川 家光), the third shogun. Some 15,000 craftsmen were employed on the construction of the Toshogu Shrine, most of them coming from Kyoto and Nara, where there was a great flowering of architecture at that period. The result was a complex of buildings with an over-lavish profusion of decoration, incorporating all the sumptuousness of the preceding Momoyama period.
Today the shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Ieyasu and two other of Japan's most influential historical personalities—Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉) (1536-1598), a daimyo (territorial lord) in the Sengoku period who unified political factions of Japan; and Minamoto no Yorimoto (源 頼朝) (1147-1199), the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199.
Together with Futarasan Shrine and Rinnō-ji, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 42 structures of the shrine included in the nomination.