Senba Tōshō-gū Audio Guide

Semba Toshogu: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Semba Toshogu

   Welcome to Semba Toshogu, a Shinto shrine in Kawagoe, in Saitama Prefecture, tucked beside the great temple of Kitain. Its local name, 仙波東照宮, is written on the shrine's own signs. It enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, and it counts among the three great Toshogu shrines of Japan, alongside the ones at Nikko and Kunozan. This guide sticks to the shrine's documented story and its Kawagoe setting, rather than to what lies behind closed doors. Even so, the story is a good one. The shrine was founded by Tenkai, the twenty-seventh head priest of Kitain, to honor Ieyasu. It grew from a few days in 1617, when the dead shogun's remains rested in Kawagoe on their way to their final home. The shrine is compact. You pass through a vivid vermilion gate, walk a short approach, and you are already close to the worship hall and main hall. It is easy to hurry past, so let's slow down and see what each part of it is telling you.

2. 02

   The Journey of a Shogun's Remains

   Our story begins with Ieyasu's death on the seventeenth day of the fourth month in 1616, at the age of 75. He was first laid to rest at Kunozan, in what is now Shizuoka Prefecture. But Ieyasu left instructions, and in 1617 his son, the second shogun Hidetada, had the remains moved again, this time to Nikko. That move was a long procession. It left Kunozan on the fifteenth day of the third month, stopping at one post station after another along the way. On the twenty-third day it reached Kitain here in Kawagoe, and the remains were brought into the temple's great hall, the Yakushido, which later came to be known as the Toshogu Honjido. This is how a quiet corner of Kawagoe became part of the Ieyasu story. The shrine was founded by Tenkai, Kitain's twenty-seventh head priest, to commemorate that stop. So when you stand here, you are standing at a place where the funeral journey of the man who founded the Tokugawa shogunate paused on its way to Nikko.

3. 03

   Fire and Rebuilding Under Iemitsu

   The buildings you see today are not the first shrine buildings on this spot. In 1638, in the fifteenth year of the Kanei era, a great fire swept through Kawagoe and burned the shrine down. The third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, did not let it stay in ruins. He ordered Hotta Masamori, who was both lord of Kawagoe and one of the shogun's senior councillors, to rebuild it. The work was finished in 1640, in the seventeenth year of Kanei. Behind the reconstruction was the shogun's own wish to honor his grandfather. The survivors of that rebuilding are now celebrated. The vermilion gate at the entrance, the Zuishinmon, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property, and so is the torii gate. Notice that striking red as you pass through. It is the first thing the shrine shows you, and it is almost four centuries old in its present form.

4. 04

   Reading the Buildings: Style, Fence and Eagles

   Look at how the shrine is arranged. The main hall, the worship hall in front of it, and the chamber linking the two form a style called gongen-zukuri. It is the architectural pattern that became standard for Toshogu shrines, and here you can see it on a modest scale. Except for the gate and the torii, the buildings stand inside a stone fence, and ordinary visitors usually cannot step inside. On weekdays you look through the gaps in the fence. Inside the worship hall hang 12 framed paintings of eagles, a prefecture-designated cultural property. They were dedicated by Abe Tsushima-no-kami Shigetsugu, the lord of Iwatsuki Castle. If the doors are open when you come, look for them. A bird of prey is a fitting guardian for a shogun.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you leave, remember that Semba Toshogu belongs to a larger Kawagoe story. The shrine is looked after by Kawagoe Hachimangu, which also offers a shrine stamp, called a goshuin, for it. A dango shop beside the approach offers a hand-written version too, without the hollyhock crest, for 300 yen. Kitain, the shrine's temple neighbor, is within about 20 minutes' walk of the black-walled Kurazukuri merchant district and Candy Alley. Kawagoe itself is only 30 to 45 minutes from central Tokyo, so the shrine fits easily into a day among the old storehouses. As you walk back toward town, ask yourself a question. A funeral procession passed through here in 1617, and the fire of 1638 nearly erased the shrine. Which of the things around you in Kawagoe has outlasted the centuries?