Textile Hanging of Nikko Shrine

The great shogunal mausoleum at Nikko, in the mountains to the north of Tokyo, was a very popular foreign tourist destination from the 1870s onwards. The gateway to the main shrine of the Toshogu, built by Tokugawa Hidetada in memory of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, was frequently depicted in the cut velvet technique, but this is an exceptionally large and impressive example.