Toshogu Shrine is located in Nikko City, in Tochigi Prefecture and the trail that extends from Nikko City to the Shrine is called “Nikko Suginamiki” which is long 35 kilometers. This is the longest tree-lined road in the world featuring 15.000 towering cedar trees planted in the 17^th century on both sides of the path.

Nikko Toshogu Shrine is dedicated to the military leader Tokugawa Ieayasu, the founder and the first Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate (or Edo Shogunate), which has ruled Japan for 250 years till 1868. Every year in spring and autumn, Nikko Toshogu Shrine holds the Shuki Taisai Grand Festival featuring a procession of thousand warriors re-enacting the arrival of Tokugawa Ieyasu`s remains in Nikko from where he died in Shizuoka prefecture.

The Shrine complex contains both Shinto and Buddhist elements and 5 structures, as well as two words, are categorized as National Treasures of Japan. Toshogu Shrine consists of more than a dozen buildings embellished with wood carvings and gorgeous gold leaf decorations. Is the case of the Yomeimon Gate, which represents the entrance to the prayer Hall. This is a glittering structure decorated with more than 240,000 pieces of gold leaf and more than 300 carved sculptures featuring geometric patterns and mythological animals such as dragons, lions, giraffes but also the famous “sleeping cat”, a sculpture that is said to symbolize peace and the three wise monkeys who depicting the concept “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. Another particularly notable building is the five-story pagoda in front of the main entrance gate, which was burned down by a fire and then rebuilt in 1818. Each story represents an element: earth, water, fire, wind and void in ascending order.