Iemitsu Rebuilds the Nikkō Shrine

Nikkō’s shrine to Tokugawa Ieyasu dated from 1617. In 1634–1636 his grandson Iemitsu replaced most of its buildings. The enlarged complex included elaborately ornamented gates, corridors and worship spaces; the court granted the Tōshōgū title later, in 1645.

Kōra Munehiro directed carpentry as the shogunate’s chief master carpenter. His sons Munetsugu and Munehisa and grandson Muneyoshi also appear in the project’s records. Painting, coloring, lacquer, metal fittings and roofing involved further trades. The construction account’s large labor figures count accumulated attendances, rather than millions of distinct people. Its initial totals also exclude several crafts, making them an incomplete measure of the work.

Shogunal expenditure supported the rebuilding. Craftsmen gave architectural form to a memorial for the ruling house’s founder, while clerics maintained the worship conducted there. Most of the shrine buildings were transformed during this campaign; subsequent repairs continued under later governments. The surviving precinct therefore includes the 1630s reconstruction, later replacements and centuries of maintenance.