Japan Navigator

Sometimes buildings can be lost so thoroughly that you would never suspect their original existence. I am not talking about your favorite restaurant in Tokyo that has suddenly disappeared. Another one will take its place. Much more serious of the loss of things that cannot be replaced.

I am referring to the Taitokuin Mausoleum in Shiba, Tokyo, built in 1632 to house the remains of the second Tokugawa shogun, Hidetada. It was considered one of the greatest works of all traditional Japanese architecture, on a par with the fabulous monuments in Nikko – not accidently both were built under the authority of the third shogun, Iemitsu. Today, it would have been a National Treasure.

Just as the Nikko Toshogu leaned on Rinnoji Temple, Taitokuin was built under the wings of another Tendai temple important to the shogunate, Zojoji. The mausoleum stood on the south-eastern side of Zojoji Temple. It was the utmost of splendor, in gongen-zukuri style and boasting mutiple karahafu on the inner gateway.

In the Edo-period, Taitokuin was walled-in and of course forbidden terrain for ordinary citizens. In the first half of the 20th c., that seems to have changed, as the famous author Nagai Kafu tells that the Shiba mausoleum, always quiet and deserted, was a favorite destination for his afternoon walks.

Sadly, in the closing days of WWII, the mausoleum was destroyed by allied firebombing. Now only a few dilapidated gates remain. The remains of Hidetada and others of the shogunal clan buried here, have been gathered in a small graveyard behind the main hall of Zojoji. The area where the mausoleums once stood, was sold off in the early fifties to build the enormities of Tokyo Tower, the Prince Hotel and a bowling hall. Now, nothing serves to remind passersby that here once stood these great pieces of architecture.

This is how history disappears. Happily, we still have old 19th c. photos (from the New York Public Library Digital Archives) to show what Shiba once looked like…

See my post on Zojoji.

See also William H. Coaldrake, Architecture and Authority in Japan (1996).