This gate was built in 1632 in remembrance of Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632), second ruler of the Tokugawa family. The Tokugawa family ruled Japan during the Edo Period, which lasted from 1603 to 1867. This period gave Japan the most stable reign it had seen up to that point in its history, and various cultural arts took shape and developed throughout the country. It is said that the population of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) exceeded one million people in the 1700's (by comparison, the population of Paris in the 1800's was about 540,000, and the population of London was about 860,000). A mausoleum is a building dedicated to the spirits of ancestors, like the Temple of Confucius in China or the Taj Mahal in India. "Taitokuin" was the name given to Hidetada when he became a disciple of the Buddha. The mausoleum was magnificent and large in scale, and this was the first gate leading into it. The entire structure was destroyed in the bombings of 1945 except for four gates that survived, and the other three were later moved to different locations, leaving only this gate in its original location. Looking at this gate gives you a glimpse of the splendor of the building techniques of the past and the majesty of the Tokugawa family.

Built in 1717, this is the gate of the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ietsugu (1709-1716), seventh ruler of the Tokugawa family.
A mausoleum is a building dedicated to the spirits of ancestors, like the Taj Mahal in India or the Temple of Confucius in China. The Tokugawa family ruled Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1867), a reign of approximatley 300 years that was the most stable in Japan’s history up to that point, and which witnessed various cultural developments. Edo (modern-day Tokyo) had a population exceeding one million people in the 1700's, surpassing the populations of Paris and London at the time. "Yushoin" was the name given to Ietsugu when he became a disciple of Buddha. The mausoleum of Ietsugu, who died before the age of eight, is said to have been as magnificent as Nikko Toshogu Shrine, which still exists today in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture. Most of Ietsugu's mausoleum was destroyed, however, in the bombings of 1945. Since such mausoleums were no longer built for the eighth or subsequent generations of the Tokugawa family, this gate is an invaluable part of the history of the Tokugawa family.