Toshogu Shrine (after Yomeimon Gate)

Passing through Yomeimon Gate, one first sees the main shrine building.

Like all the buildings, it was well decorated.

Even on the inside, where I may have taken a photo or two before I realized we were not supposed to have cameras....

    

Everything around was so colorful.

Finally, we entered the gate towards where Tokugawa Ieyasu was kept. One of the first things one passes under is the famous sleeping cat carving above the door.

There were approximately eleventy billion stairs to get to the top, but I lost count because I was too bus panting heavily and contemplating how many people die each year from slipping on the wet stone stairs with no railing.

Yes, that's sort of a railing but it's covered in slippery moss and too far for most non-giants to reach.

One more flight of stairs, one more Torii gate and finally I arrived at the top!

Because of the sleeping cat at the bottom, the cat has become a symbol of Ieyasu and one can purchase ema (wooden plaques that one writes their wishes on and hangs at the shrine) with images of the cat in order to provide good fortune to one's household. I may have gotten one as a souvenir.....

And now, behold, the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu!

Sadly, viewing Ieyasu meant it was time to begin the even more perilous seeming journey down.

In case you weren't sure, I survived.