Namiki-kishinhi Oblation Monument(Sannai)

Namiki-kishinhi Oblation Monument（Sannai）

On the main approach to the Toshogu Shrine, where the first shogun of the Tokugawa family, Tokugawa Ieyasu, is enshrined, there stands a oblation monument. It commemorates Matsudaira Masatsuna (1576-1648), a retainer of the Tokugawa family who served from the first Tokugawa shogun Ieyasu (1542-1616) to the third Tokugawa shogun Iemitsu (1604-1651). He spent over twenty years planting Japanese cedar trees as a gesture of gratitude for the favors received during Ieyasu's lifetime, and donated them. Four monuments stand at the starting points of the cedar avenue of Nikko: the entrance to Nikko Sannai, Osawa (Nikko Kaido), Kogura (Nikko Reiheishi Kaido), and Okuwa (Aizu Nishi Kaido). The planting was completed in 1648, marking the 33rd anniversary of Ieyasu's death. However, Masatsuna passed away before the completion of the monument, and his son Masanobu fulfilled his late father's wishes by completing this monument.