Nikko Toshogu Shrine Travel & Tours | Tourist Attractions

The national treasure "Yomeimon Gate" is decorated with over 500 colorful carvings based on historical events and other factors, and its gorgeous appearance is said to be one of the most beautiful gates in Japan.
Enjoy to your heart's content the art and crafts of the Edo period, along with precious cultural assets such as the Sleeping Cat and the Three Wise Monkeys.

The sacred stables are where the sacred horses are kept.
There are monkey sculptures in the stables because it has long been said that monkeys cure horse illnesses and are the guardian deities of horses.
There are eight monkey carvings on the nageshi, which tell the story of a person's life. Among them, the three monkeys, "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," are famous and represent the wish that children will grow up to be well-behaved.

The corridor stretches from Yomeimon Gate to the left and right, and is 220 meters long. It surrounds the main shrine, prayer hall, kagura hall, and mikoshi shrine in a U-shape with Yomeimon Gate at the center.
Each one is a single-panel openwork carving, fully painted with lacquer, and designated as a national treasure.
There is a sculpture of a "sleeping cat" above the entrance to the inner shrine in the east corridor. The cat's expression changes depending on the viewing position. When viewed from the front, it has a dozing expression, which represents peace, but when viewed from the left, it looks ready to pounce at any time, so it is said to be protecting Ieyasu.

The main shrine is an important location at the center of Toshogu Shrine, with the main hall, stone room, and worship hall integrated in a Gongen-style structure. The worship hall has the Shogun's seated room to the east and the Hoshinno's seated room to the west. The ceilings of each room are decorated with 100 dragons, each with a different design, painted by Kano Tan'yū and his followers, and the main hall houses Tosho Daigongen, a deified version of Ieyasu.