Toyokuni Jinja Shrine

Toyokuni Shrine is dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warlord who unified Japan in the late sixteenth century and was posthumously deified by the imperial court in 1599. The original shrine was so lavish it served as the architectural model for Nikko's famous Toshogu complex. After Hideyoshi's rival Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power, the shrine was stripped of support and quietly fell to ruin. It was revived by the Meiji government in 1880 on a portion of the adjacent Hokoji Temple grounds. The towering ornamental gate at the entrance is one of Kyoto's most photographed landmarks.