In the center of Tokyo, there is the Imperial Palace ground. It used to be Edo castle until 1967. In the early 17th century, some temples and shrines were carefully allocated to protect Edo castle from evil spirits according to ancient wisdom, Fusui.
A customer asked me to guide him to Hie-shrine in Tokyo. As I did not know the history of it, I checked some articles about the Hie Shrine. Then, I found this interesting story.
- Background
In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu(1542-1616) moved to Edo, today’s Tokyo, and settled at Edo castle. At that time, a famous Buddhist monk, Tenkai (1536-1643) worked for Ieyasu as a strategist. To protect Edo castle from evil spirits, he planned the locations of temples and shrines based on Fusui. Fusui is a unique Japanese thought based on Feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement, used to create harmony in our environment through the manipulation of energy.
- System of protecting the Edo castle
According to Fusui, northeast is called Kimon, demon’s gate, and southwest is called Ura-kimon, back demon’s gate. They are unlucky directions. Evil spirits are believed to come from these directions. In order to protect Edo castle, it was necessary to allocate sacred spots such as temples or shrines in northeast and southwest of Edo castle.
Tenkai recommended allocating temples and shrines as shown in the following picture.
3. Temples and shrines protecting the Edo castle in Tokyo
(1) Hie-shrine
It is located in Nagatacho, southeast of Edo castle.
Its original shrine was created in the late 15th century in the north of Edo and was moved near Edo castle. In 1657, it was again moved to Nagatacho. The shrine has been worshiped as a guardian god of Tokugawa family especially.
(2) Zojoji temple
It is in Shiba, southwest of Edo castle.
It was dedicated to the Tokugawa family, so there are several Shogun’s graves.
(3) Sensoji temple
It is in Asakusa, northeast of Edo castle.
When Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to Edo in 1590, he followed Tenkai’s advice and designated Senso-ji Temple as a place of prayer for the Tokugawa family. In September 1600, just before the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, Ieyasu ordered Senso-ji Temple’s monks to pray for victory. Then Ieyasu won the Battle and became a Shogun. Since then, Senso-ji Temple has been under the ardent patronage of the Tokugawa.
(4) Kanda-myojin shrine
It is located in Kanda, northeast of Edo castle.
It was worshiped as the Edo Sochinju (the center place to pray for local gods) by the Shogunate.
(5) Kan-eiji temple
It is in Ueno, northeast of Edo castle.
It was dedicated to the Tokugawa family, so there are several Shogun’s graves.
4. Afterword
I was surprised to learn that even in Tokyo, the city development was based on the idea of Feng Shui. I sometimes introduce this to my customers, and they always listen with interest.
5. Reference
The pamphlet of Hie jinja
Ieyasu and Tenkai’s preparations for Edo Castle (https://wako226.exblog.jp/)
Map
Eddy Murayama, a member of iTWS japan LLP
e-mail: eddy.murayama@i3ws.co.jp
