Once Upon a Time in the East

Welcome to Rokusho Shrine (六所神社), the beautiful family shrine of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Or at least the entrance to it.

Once upon a time in the East, a man named Tokugawa Ieyasu was a pretty big deal. He would go on to conquer Japan in 1600 and be declared shōgun in 1603, and his family would continue to rule the country until 1868 when the emperor took charge again[1].

Long before he rose to that height, however, he was known as Matsudaira Takechiyo, and he was born in Okazaki Castle, in Mikawa, near Nagoya. The shrine in the photo was his family shrine.

Because of that connection, after he became shōgun, this shrine became much more popular. The Tokugawa government protected it and fixed it up, renovating the buildings in the shrine complex and adding more. Only the most powerful regional lords were allowed to actually enter the shrine. All others had to be content to simply look at it and pray from the outside.[2]

This gate in the photo is a great example of a rōmon gate, which is common at the entrances to larger or more important shrines. Rōmon gates are two storied gates, but the second story is often sealed and not accessible. The shrine itself is still popular these days, mostly with pregnant women, as a visit here is suppose to bless them with an easy childbirth and gives them hope that their own child will grow to be as successful as Ieyasu.[3]


  1. This would be the Emperor Meiji, grandfather to Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa), and he was only a young man when this event went down so it is debatable how much say he had in things, at least in the beginning. The emperors of Japan have mostly been puppets since ancient times, so he would go on to be the first Japanese emperor in many centuries to actually hold some degree of power.

  2. Only lords whose domains produced more than 50,000 koku of rice were allowed to enter. 1 koku (石) is roughly equal to 5 bushels, approximately 180 liters, which was considered enough to feed one person for a year. Koku of rice produced was basically the measure of power in pre-modern Japan. 50,000 koku would have been equal to about 9,019,534 liters or 255,953 bushels. That's a lot of rice.

  3. And, perhaps, also conquer Japan someday.



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