In your face reformers
A man offers a prayer and gently bows in front of the golden main gate of Toshogu shrine in Ueno, Tokyo, with one of the 50 copper lanterns, donated by daimyo (feudal lords) during the Edo period in the foreground.
Ueno Toshogu Shrine was built in 1616 and is one of numerous shrines (~200) across the country that are dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Edo Shogunate (1603-1868), the third and last of the shogunal governments in Japanese history.
The name "Toshogu", which was conferred to Ieyasu posthumously, is a royal title. Literally translated, Toshogu means "Light of the East" or "Sun god of the east", referring to the eastern location of the Shogun's seat of Kamakura. This Toshogu Shrine, characterized by luxurious gilt walls, is preserved as it was in the Edo era (16th-17th centuries), having almost miraculously largely escaped the disasters of the past few centuries, such as fires, major earthquakes and the fire-bombings during the Second World War. Most surprisingly though, the shrine survived the Ueno war of 1868, a fierce battle between the warriors of the Tokugawa Shogunate against the forces of the Meiji reformers and their anti-Tokugawa zeal, determined to restore the power of the previously overthrown emperor. Whatever building did not burn, was destroyed by the modern canons used by the imperial forces, all but the Toshogu Shrine.
In your face reformers
A man offers a prayer and gently bows in front of the golden main gate of Toshogu shrine in Ueno, Tokyo, with one of the 50 copper lanterns, donated by daimyo (feudal lords) during the Edo period in the foreground.
Ueno Toshogu Shrine was built in 1616 and is one of numerous shrines (~200) across the country that are dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Edo Shogunate (1603-1868), the third and last of the shogunal governments in Japanese history.
The name "Toshogu", which was conferred to Ieyasu posthumously, is a royal title. Literally translated, Toshogu means "Light of the East" or "Sun god of the east", referring to the eastern location of the Shogun's seat of Kamakura. This Toshogu Shrine, characterized by luxurious gilt walls, is preserved as it was in the Edo era (16th-17th centuries), having almost miraculously largely escaped the disasters of the past few centuries, such as fires, major earthquakes and the fire-bombings during the Second World War. Most surprisingly though, the shrine survived the Ueno war of 1868, a fierce battle between the warriors of the Tokugawa Shogunate against the forces of the Meiji reformers and their anti-Tokugawa zeal, determined to restore the power of the previously overthrown emperor. Whatever building did not burn, was destroyed by the modern canons used by the imperial forces, all but the Toshogu Shrine.