上野東照宮

拝殿

This is Haiden. It is a hall of worship and has a roof of copper.

Inside the frame, the characters read Toshogu and they are made from pure gold.

That wall painting was painted by Tan-yu Kano. He was one of the most famous painters in Azuchi Momoyama era. In this painting, a pine tree is symbolized. That is a peony. It is a Chinese phoenix which is an imaginary bird of China.

The other sculptures and wall paintings were done by the Kano school.

左甚五郎の竜

Hidari Jingoro was a clever man. When he was asked by Tokugawa Shogun to make the relief of two dragons on the gate of Toshogu Shrine, he had never seen a picture of a dragon.

The Shogun said, " The dragon has a pair of antlers, scales like a carp, a mane like a lion, a muzzle like a cow and claws. " After hearing about the dragons from the Shogun,  he made the sculptures.

He had very good imagination to design such impressive dragons.  I admire his talent  very much.

▲Go To Blog Top