国宝　久能山東照宮　1,159石段の参道　　National Treasure: Kunozan Toshogu Shrine – 1,159-Step Approach

久能山東照宮は、徳川家康公をご祭神としておまつりする全国東照宮の創祀です。 徳川家康公は、天文11年（1542年）12月26日三河国岡崎城（愛知県岡崎市）にお生まれになり、あらゆる艱難辛苦の末、戦乱の世に終止符を打ち、江戸時代260余年にわたる世界に其の比を見ない「泰平の世」の礎を築かれ、学問、産業、文化の基礎を確立し近世日本の発展に偉大な功績を残されました。 晩年は大御所として駿府城に在りましたが、元和2年（1616年）4月17日、波乱に満ちた75年の生涯を閉じられました。徳川家康公は生前、家臣に対し、自分の死後について「遺体は駿河国の久能山に葬り、江戸の増上寺で葬儀を行い、三河国の大樹寺に位牌を納め、一周忌が過ぎて後、下野の日光山に小堂を建てて勧請せよ、八州の鎮守になろう」との遺言を残されました。 この御遺命により御遺骸を久能山に埋葬し、その地に2代将軍秀忠公の命により久能山東照宮が創建されました。 Kunozan Toshogu is the original Toshogu shrine—the first of many established across the country—dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Born on December 26, 1542, at Okazaki Castle in Mikawa Province (present-day Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture), Tokugawa Ieyasu overcame immense hardships to put an end to an era of constant warfare. He laid the foundations for the Edo period—an age of peace unparalleled in world history that lasted over 260 years—and established the groundwork for scholarship, industry, and culture, leaving a monumental legacy for the development of early modern Japan. He spent his final years at Sunpu Castle as the retired shogun (*Ogosho*), but on April 17, 1616, he passed away, concluding a tumultuous life of seventy-five years. Before his death, he left specific instructions regarding his funeral and enshrinement: his body was to be interred at Mt. Kuno in Suruga Province; his funeral service held at Zojoji Temple in Edo; his spirit tablet enshrined at Daijuji Temple in Mikawa Province; and, one year after his passing, a small shrine built at Mt. Nikko in Shimotsuke Province to enshrine his spirit, so that he might serve as the guardian deity of the Eight Provinces (*Hasshu*). In accordance with these final wishes, his remains were buried at Mt. Kuno, and Kunozan Toshogu was subsequently founded on that site by order of the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada. BGM　Connectendness Anonyment　　 Felicia Blue For Time To Disappear-Go By Oceane Ryan MaCafrey