Visit Japan Web Toji-in
Visit Japan Web invites you to explore Toji-in, a Buddhist temple of the Rinzai Tenryu located in Kita Ward, Kyoto. It is one of two funeral temples dedicated to Ashikaga Takauji, the first shogun of the Ashikaga dynasty. Its main object of worship is Shakyamuni, and its honorary sangō prefix is Mannenzan.
Fukushima Masanori built the Main Hall in1616 as a tacchu of Myoshin-ji. Muso Soseki designed the garden, the ponds and the Seirentei tearoom. Toji-in’s treasure owns a drawing of the temple, which is an Important Cultural Property.
A small structure called Reiko-den houses the statues of Tokugawa Ieyasu and all the fifteen Ashikaga shoguns. The statues, which have little artistic merit, stand in two rows along the walls of the room. Each one sits and holds a shaku that represents their shogunal authority. The sculptors of the statues are anonymous but people assume that they are from the early 1600s. The statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu implies that Tokugawa wanted to connect himself to the Ashikaga family. He also wanted to create a sense of continuity between the two dynasties. Like them, Ieyasu also claimed to be a descendant of the Minamoto clan.
In 1863, nine men stormed into the Reiko-den and cut off the heads of the first three Ashikaga shoguns. They took it as a way of avenging their role in taking away the emperor’s power during the Nanbokucho period. The heads were then displayed on the shores of the Kamo river with signs that listed their offenses against the country.
