Toshugu Shrine

The Toshugu Shrine is one of the most elaborately decorated in Japan, a land that prizes simplicity. Toshugu's twelve buildings encompass the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the samurai warrior who founded the dynasty that ruled Japan for nearly four centuries. His grandson, the reigning shogun, ordered the unusual shrine to be built. Carvings shown here include an elephant sculpted by a man who had never seen an actual elephant, but only had it described to him.