Zōjō-ji temple and Mausoleum of Tokugawa Shoguns

 There is a temple called Zōjō-ji in Minato ward, Tōkyō. There are some stations around the temple so the area is very convenient. Right now the temple is not as big as it was in the Edo period (1603 - 1868). It is believed that the temple was founded in current Chiyoda ward in 1393, and was relocated to present site from 1598.
 I have been to the temple only one time before. I was initially going to visit only Tōkyō Tower, but I saw the temple too. There are many things to see around the temple. I could not see all of them, because I did not have enough time and strength.
 In October 2020, I went to the temple again. I took the JR line to Hama-matsu-chō station, so I walked from the station to the temple. The area around the station is an office district with skyscrapers, but after walking about five minutes, a gate suddenly appeared close to Dai-mon subway station. It is Dai-mon gate, but it was not the temple yet. This gate seems used to be the main gate of the temple, and it was rebuilt from reinforced concrete in 1937.
 The current main gate has short distance from here. It is called San-mon gate. After walking about three minutes, I could see the gate. The gate was built in 1622. After I passed through this gate, I was in the temple.
 There were Treasure Gallery and Mausoleum of Tokugawa Shoguns in the temple, but their regular holiday is Tuesday, and this day happened to be Tuesday, so I gave up and I visited the main hall. The hall was rebuilt in 1974.

 After visiting the main hall, I went to see the Mausoleum of Tokugawa Shoguns. There were some stone lanterns and a gate, but the gate was closed because the day was a regular holiday. I thought it was disappointing that I cannot see inside, but I was impressed by the gate because it was so wonderful. It had ten Tokugawa familys’ house crests and two dragon sculptures. It was originally in the mausoleum of the sixth Shogun Ienobu, and it is made of bronze. I thought that it was great.
 According to the official home page, the former mausoleums were magnificent ones lined up north and south (left and right) of main hall at that time, but they were burned down in 1945. The dead bodies were investigated in 1958. After that, they concentrated in the new mausoleum close to the current main hall.
 38 people were buried in this temple. There were six Tokugawa Shoguns, the second Shogun Hidetada, the sixth Shogun Ienobu, the seventh Shogun Ietsugu, the ninth Shogun Ieshige, the twelfth Shogun Ieyoshi and the fourteenth Shogun Iemochi. In addition, there was the fifth Shogun Tsunayoshi’s older brother Tsunashige, he was also known the sixth shogun’s father. There were five legal wives of Shoguns, the second Shogun’s wife, the sixth Shogun’s wife, the eleventh Shogun’s wife, the thirteenth Shogun’s wife and the fourteenth Shogun’s wife. There were five mistresses of the Shoguns, the third Shogun’s mistress, the sixth Shogun’s mistress and other. There were children of Shoguns.

 There is Tōkyō Prince Hotel next to the north side of Zōjō-ji temple, and there is an old gate on the hotel grounds, so after seeing the temple, I went to see it. I had seen it one time before. At that time, I was surprised because it was not beautiful. It was due to deterioration over time, but I remember that two people (they were probably foreign tourists) were looking at it with great interest. I was also surprised this time, because it was really beautiful. The gold was dazzling, and I couldn’t believe that it was the same object.
 The gate was part of the mausoleum of the seventh Tokugawa Shogun Ietsugu. It was probably the first gate of the mausoleum. It was called Niten-mon gate. Many people may think that this hotel has no relation with the temple next door, but the area was the mausoleum of Tokugawa Shoguns.
 Ietsugu was born in Edo Castle in 1709. He was the fourth son of the sixth shogun Ienobu (1662 - 1712). Ienobu had seven children, but only Ietsugu was raised. In October 1712, Ienobu passed away, and in April 1713, when he was four years old, he became shogun. In May 1713, he was engaged to a two-year-old girl from the imperial family. But in April 1716, when he was eight years old, he passed away.
 There was a sign with explaining about the gate inside of the gate. To explain with reference to the sign, the mausoleum of Ietsugu was built by the eighth shogun Yoshimune (1684 - 1751) in 1717 on the north side of the mausoleum of Ienobu, and the two mausoleums were next to each other. The mausoleum of Ienobu also had Niten-mon gate and two wooden statues (burned down in 1945). The statues called Jikoku-ten and Zōchō-ten. Ietsugu’s Niten-mon gate has two wooden statues, and they called Kōmoku-ten and Tamon-ten. The four wooden statues enshrine the four heavenly kings (Sanskrit : Chaturmahārājikā).