Kishu Toshogu Shrine

The shrine was built by Tokugawa Yorinobu to deify his father, Ieyasu. Yorinobu himself is a deity of this shrine, too. The magnificence of this shrine is often compared with the Nikko Toshogu (in Tochigi prefecture). The architecture is called Gongen-zukuri: a style that has a stone room in between the inner main shrine and the worship hall (front shrine).

The annual festival held at this shrine had been one of the largest throughout the nation back in the Edo period. Today, the festival has been revived as the “Waka-matsuri” where people enjoy coming every year.