Shinto Shrine
A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion.
Overview
Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings.
The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...
dedicated to
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
The Maebashi Tōshō-gū was initially established in 1624 by Matsudaira Naomoto (1604-1648) in
Echizen-Katsuyama Domain
was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003). It was based at Katsuyama Castle i ...
, over which he had just been made ''
daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
''. Matsudaira Naomoto was the 5th son of Yūki Hideyasu, and was thus grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. During his career, Matsudaira Naomoto and his successors were transferred so many times that they came to be known as the "wandering daimyō", and with each change in domain he had the Tōshō-gū disassembled and reconstructed at his new posting. In 1635, he was transferred to Ōno Domain, still in Echizen Province. In 1644, he was transferred to
Yamagata Domain
was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Yamagata Castle in what is now the city of Yamagata. Unlike some ''han'' whose control was relatively stable throughout ...
, and in 1648 he was transferred to
Himeji Domain
was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Himeji Castle, which is located in what is now the ...
.
His son, Matsudaira Naomori, was transferred to
Murakami Domain
was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Echigo Province (modern-day Niigata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Murakami Castle in what is now the city of Murakami, Niigata.Hita Domain ( Bungo Province) (1682), Yamagata Domain (1686) and Shirakawa Domain (1692). Naomori's grandson, Matsudaira Akinori was transferred to Himeji Domain in 1741. His son, Matsudaira Tomonori, was transferred to Maebashi Domain in 1749 and rebuilt the Maebashi Tōshō-gū on its present site.
Due to flood damage,
Maebashi Castle
is a Japanese castle, castle located in Maebashi, central Gunma Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Maebashi Castle was home to a branch of the Matsudaira clan, ''daimyō'' of Maebashi Domain, Maebashi domain, although the castle wa ...
was abandoned and moved he moved to
Kawagoe Castle
is a flatland Japanese castle in the city of Kawagoe, in Japan's Saitama Prefecture. It is the closest castle to Tokyo to be accessible to visitors, as Edo castle is now the Imperial palace, and largely inaccessible.
Along with a number of othe ...
in 1767 and the shrine was also relocated. In 1867, when
Matsudaira Naokatsu
The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of th ...
returned his seat to Maebashi, he planned to move the Tōshō-gū as well, but due to the turmoil at the end of the Edo period, it was not actually rebuilt until 1871.
Under the pre-World War II
State Shinto
was Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that emphasized the Emperor as ...
system of shrine ranking from 1879 through 1946, was officially designated as a "prefectural shrine".
See also
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Tōshō-gū
is any Shinto shrine in which Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) is enshrined.
Ieyasu was the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), which is the third and last of the shogunal governments in Japanese history. He was deified with the name , t ...