Toshogu Shrine in Nikko: UNESCO World Heritage Site
Toshogu shrines are found throughout Japan and the most famous one is the shrine in Nikko which is why most tourists come here.
It has been an item on my bucket list since 2007 to visit the Toshogu shrine in Nikko.
I purchased a package from ToykoTravel which included a visit to the Nikko shrines and to the Edo Wonderland theme park. I recommend this package if you ever consider visiting Japan.
gorgeous gate at the toshogu shrine in Nikko, Japan
The shrine will always remind me of the video: Tom Green in Japan which is actually quite rude but at the same time pretty funny.
I was suprised that one of the giant lanterns was a gift from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) presented to the shogun in 1643 during the isolation of Japan, definitely a highlight.
toshogu shrine in Nikko, Japan
Nikko Toshogu is a Shinto shrine located in the Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the "Shrines and Temples of Nikko", an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Toshogu is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Initially built in 1617, during the Edo period, while Ieyasu's son Hidetada was shogun, it was enlarged during the time of the third shogun, Iemitsu.
toshogu shrine in Nikko, Japan
Ieyasu is enshrined there, where his remains are also entombed.During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate carried out stately processions from Edo to the Nikkō Tōshō-gū along the Nikkō Kaidō.
The shrine's annual spring and autumn festivals reenact these occasions, and are known as "processions of a thousand warriors."