Edo - Meiji period (19th century)

This lavish, elaborately decorated cabinet depicts the beautiful and well-known sites of Nikko in autumn. The impressive Kegon Falls, listed as one of Nihon Hakkei [Eight Views of Japan] in 1927 and designated an Important Cultural Property today, are rendered elegantly with maple and fading mist. The Nikko Toshogu, depicted to the top and front panels, enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan for over 250 years. It was initially built in 1617 and enlarged during the time of the third shogunate Iemitsu (1604-1651), and is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, ‘Shrines and Temples of Nikko’. The Yomeimon Gate depicted on the top panel is one of the most renowned architectural structures in the Toshogu shrine and designated a National Treasure. This lavish gate is decorated with around four hundred carvings and also called Higurashi mon that means the gate at which people look all day and never tire. The Gojunoto [five-story pagoda] and the Kamijinko [upper sacred storehouse], depicted on the cabinet door, are both designated Important Cultural Properties. The details are superbly rendered here, including the renowned carvings on the gable of two stylised elephants by Kano Tanyu (1602-74), known as ‘imaginary elephants’ since the artist never saw an actual elephant.