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The Toshogu Shrine is Japan's most
famous historical landmark. Built 1636 the shrine honors the first
shogun of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu. This great leader was the first man
to unify Japan after centuries of civil war when warlords divided the
country. The shrine is renowned world wide for the way the man made
splendor of the shrine fits in so harmoniously with the surrounding
Nikko National Park. A Japanese saying is "Never say kekko (content)
until you've seen Nikko."
But the shrine isn't the only thing
that sets the park off from Japan's many other natural wonders.
Crytomeria Avenue, or the Avenue of Cedar Trees, is the real wonder
of the park. The trees along the old Nikko road were planted in
conjunction with the building of the Toshogu Shrine as a tribute to
the Tokugawa Shogunate. The 200 thousand Japanese Cedars took twenty
years to plant ending in 1648. Close to 14,000 of year old trees
still stand, towering over the road at an average height of 88 feet.
Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's longest
avenue the trees stretch from Nikko for over twenty miles through
downtown Imaichi.