today it remains, ironically, before the Hokoku Shrine, the Shinto memorial to his enshrined spirit.
HOKOKU SHRINE (TOYOKUNI SHRINE)
The Hokoku Shrine, also known as the Toyokuni Shrine, is on Yamato-qji-dori where Shomen-dori meets Yamato-oji-dori, north of the Kyoto National Museum. There is no admission charge to the shrine. Its treasury is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The era of peace and a growing economy, after the devastation that had been visited on Kyoto by the century of civil war, endeared Hideyoshi to the public. His festival occasions, though sometimes brash, also warmed the citizens of Kyoto to his rule. Thus, after his death, one of the popular songs sung by the people at his shrine summarized these feelings:
Who's that
Holding over four hundred provinces
In the palm of his hand
And entertaining at a tea party?
It's His Highness [Taiko]
So mighty, so impressive.
When Hideyoshi gave a tea party, he savored the quiet essence of the tea ceremony as created by tea masters such as Sen-no-Rikyu. On the other hand, he could go to the extremes to which his nature inclined. His passion for tea reached such a height that when he held a tea party for the public at the Kitano Shrine in October of 1587, he invited "even those from China" to attend. One had only to bring a mat to sit on and a tea bowl. Some five thousand people are said to have attended the "tea party."
On Hideyoshi's death, the emperor Go-Yozei in 1599 ordered that a Shinto shrine to Hideyoshi's spirit be constructed at the foot of Amida-ga-mine (Mount Amida) to the east of Higashi-ojidori since in death Hideyoshi was seen as a god. The shrine became a gathering place for the people of Kyoto on the anniversary of Hideyoshi's death, a great festival being held before the shrine. The festival was captured in a painting done on a six-panel folding screen by Kano Naizen (owned by the shrine and on public view in its treasury) in the early 1600s, documenting the admiration of the people for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Such esteem for his predecessor concerned the new shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. As a result, through the years Ieyasu did all that was possible to erase Hideyoshi's name insofar as he could. Gradually the shrine and burial place of Hideyoshi were eliminated by Ieyasu.
With the end of the Tokugawa (Edo) era in 1868, however, the new Meiji government began the restoration of Hideyoshi's reputation together with the shrines connected with him. On April 9,1875, the prefecture of Kyoto was sent an imperial order to rebuild the shrine to Hideyoshi. A ten-year reconstruction program gradually restored the Hokoku Shrine to its previous glory—but on a major portion of the grounds of the Hokoji instead of at its original site at the foot of Amida-ga-mine (Mount Amida) to the east of Higashi-oji-dori. Thus, the Hokoji was reduced drastically from its original size and importance, a result of the Meiji government's hostility to Buddhism and a policy of downgrading Buddhist temples. The former Kara-mon (Chinese-style gateway) which once had stood before Hideyoshi's Fushimi castle, was brought to the Hokoku Shrine in 1876 from its previous location, depriving the Konchi-in Buddhist sub-temple of the Nanzenji of one of its treasures.
To create the appropriate space which Meiji grandeur demanded for the restored Shinto shrine to Hideyoshi, some of the buildings of the Hokoji were moved to the north, thereby restricting the temple to but a corner of its original site. By September 15, 1875, the shrine was in place, and, in a great ceremony, Hideyoshi's spirit was transferred to the inner shrine building. Hideyoshi's cynicism in the creation of the Hokoji with its great Buddha was now being equaled by that of the Meiji government in the recreation of this Shinto shrine in order to undo the disdain of Ieyasu for Hideyoshi—but its underlying motive was to show the new government's hatred of the Tokugawa shoguns and their 260 years of political rule of Japan. The Hokoku Shrine consists of a number of buildings, and, as with most Shinto shrines, all but the Honden (Spirit Hall) and its enclosure are open to the public. A traditional torii stands at the entrance to the grounds, and beyond it a series of lanterns (in vermilion painted wood) are raised on posts leading to the Karamon. The Kara-mon faces west down Shomen-dori, and from it hangs the original tablet-name for the shrine, created by the emperor Go-Yozei in 1599. The cypress-bark-roofed Kara-mon is supported by six large, wooden pillars. Relief carvings of cranes on the transoms enhance the doors of this gateway as do the two finely carved cranes under the front gable. So realistic are the carvings of the cranes by the noted sixteenth-century sculptor Hidari Jingoro that it is said he left them without eyes so that they would not fly away. In keeping with the ostentatiousness of the Momoyama art of Hideyoshi's day, the ornaments of the restored gate were gold plated.
Beyond the Kara-mon is the Honden, the sacred building where the spirit of Hideyoshi is enshrined, ensconced behind a fence which separates the sacred from the secular realm. A statue of the seated Hideyoshi stands before the fenced inner area. To the north of the main pathway is a smaller Shinto shrine with a series of small vermilion torii before it.
To the southeast of the Honden is the treasure house which holds items connected with Hideyoshi and his times, including the folding screen mentioned above which commemorates the seventh anniversary of Hideyoshi's death. In addition, swords, armor, iron lanterns, and manuscripts of the sixteenth century, all associated with Hideyoshi, are on display.
In contrast to the late nineteenth-century attempt to glorify Hideyoshi at the Hokoku Shrine, a short walk to the northeast of the shrine brings one to a simpler and more attractive site. It is not too often that a visitor to Kyoto can see the interior of a traditional Japanese house, but the Kawai Kanjiro House offers just such an opportunity.
KAWAI KANJIRO HOUSE
On leaving the Hokoku Shrine, a right turn brings one onto Yamato-oji-dori. This street should be followed to the north for three streets. At the third cross-street, one should turn right and follow this new street to the east for two streets before turning left (north). One will thus arrive at the Kawai Kanjiro House midway down the east side of the street. The house is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except on Mondays. It is closed from August 10 to 20 and from December 24 to January 7. Entry fee.
Born in 1890, Kawai Kanjiro became noted as a twentieth-century potter and a master of ceramic craftsmanship. His growing interest in traditional pottery led him in time to become one of the founders of the Japan Folk Craft Museum in Tokyo and to bring attention to traditional Japanese folk crafts. Living in Kyoto, the center of traditional craftsmanship, he established a kiln at the rear of his house. In 1937 his home was destroyed in a storm that caused serious damage in Kyoto, and in rebuilding his residence and work area he was inspired by traditional rural Japanese house architecture. Both his home and his studio can be visited today.
The entrance to the house has a hall which would have been the area in which a farmer kept his animals. Here Kanjiro hung one of his wooden sculptures, an art form he took up in his later years. Beyond the entry hall is the reception room with a Korean-style wooden floor and an open hearth. A calligraphic inscription on the rear wall translates as "Folk Craft Study Collection," and display shelves, which can be viewed from either side, hold some of his treasured folk collections. Beyond the reception room is the family dining area with a large table which could seat up to ten people. Under the table is a kotatsu, the traditional brazier used to provide warmth to those sitting at the table. An image of the Buddha carved by a seventeenth-century priest/folk artist sits upon the table.
A traditional staircase with drawers beneath the steps leads to the upper sleeping quarter with its wooden floor and ceiling. Adjacent to this is a small room with a tokonoma, and on its wall is a calligraphic riddle whose answer is "tea." Here Kanjiro and his friends could enjoy tea in a relaxed manner rather than with the formality called for by the traditional tea ceremony. The walls of this room, as with some of the other rooms, are decorated with the wooden masks that the artist began to make in his
