Nikko Suginamiki Kaido (Nikko Cedar Avenue)

Origins of the Nikko Sugi Avenue
For centuries, pilgrims have traveled the three tree-lined roads that lead to Nikko Toshogu Shrine. Today, 12,042 towering sugi cedar trees line the roads, which stretch over 35 kilometers end to end. But who planted so many trees, and why? The creation of the Nikko Sugi Avenue, as the three roads are collectively called, began nine years after the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616). Ieyasu was the first of the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan for over 250 years. After his death, Ieyasu was enshrined at Nikko Toshosha Shrine. Between 1617 and 1843, 19 official visits were made by the Tokugawa shoguns. In 1625, Matsudaira Masatsuna (1576–1648), lord of Tamanawa domain, began the project of planting 50,000 trees along the roads to Nikko Toshosha, in conjunction with massive renovations to the shrine. The renovations were completed and the shrine was renamed Toshogu in 1645. Masatsuna had managed the collection and conservation of Ieyasu’s personal effects after his death and wanted to do something to memorialize Ieyasu. It took more than two decades to finish the roadworks and the planting, but the project was completed in 1648, just in time for the thirty-third anniversary of Ieyasu’s death.