1 / 8Kunozan Toshogu shrinePhoto: Zairon / CC BY-SA 4.0
Tap a photo to see it large. 8 photographs, every one credited.
Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
The first shogun's original mausoleum, gilded and half-hidden on a seaside mountain — Nikko's famous shrine is this one's copy. The ropeway ride over the strawberry coast is a bonus; it is closed 1–21 December 2026 for equipment work, when the only way up is 1,159 steps from the coast.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Comfortable" — nihondaira, ropeway, shrine, and back with time for lunch.
- It is not only a photo stop: he gave up the title after two years, moved here, and ran the country for another decade.
- Closed 1–21 December 2026 for equipment work, when the only way up is 1,159 steps from the coast. Check the day before you plan around it.
- 9:00–17:00 all year — ropeway closes earlier.
- Closed 1 Dec – 21 Dec 2026: the call length alone does not decide it.
- 4 hr door to door needs a 6-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
Why Kunozan Toshogu shrine is famous
He gave up the title after two years, moved here, and ran the country for another decade
Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who ended a century of civil war, retired to Sunpu and was buried on this seaside mountain in 1616. The shrine built for him the following year is the original; Nikko's far more famous Toshogu was modelled on it. Its lacquered, gilded main hall is a National Treasure, and the 1,159 stone steps from the coast are the old way up.
Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun in 1603 and resigned in 1605 — after two years — handing the title to his son. It was not a retirement. He moved to Sunpu, the town he had been a hostage in as a boy, and governed from there until he died, which is why the most important castle of the early Tokugawa period is not in Tokyo.
Tokugawa Ieyasu died in 1616 and was first buried here, on a mountain above the sea. The far more famous shrine at Nikko was built afterwards. Kunozan is the original, is smaller, is more densely decorated per square metre, and receives a small fraction of the visitors.
The main hall is a National Treasure in the gongen-zukuri style — lacquered, gilded and carved to a degree that is hard to photograph and easy to underestimate from pictures. The ropeway from Nihondaira crosses a valley of strawberry greenhouses with the bay behind.
The town he returns to at the end
And resigns two years later
Proving the shogunate is hereditary
The effective capital of Japan is here
Take the ropeway to Kunozan Toshogu. It is the original burial site, and Nikko is the copy.
Things worth knowing
- Take the ropeway from Nihondaira. The 1,159-step stone stairway from the coast is real and it is not a port-day activity.
- Nihondaira itself gives the classic view — tea fields, the port, Fuji behind, and often your own ship in frame.
- The carvings repay standing still. Most visitors walk the circuit in six minutes and see almost none of it.
- The museum beside the shrine holds Ieyasu's possessions, including European clocks given to him.
- Ogosho大御所 — The retired shogun. A title with more real power than the office.
- Sunpu駿府 — The old name for Shizuoka. Japan's effective capital for a decade.
Kunozan Toshogu shrine and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Questions people send us
Is Kunozan Toshogu better than Nikko?
It is the original. Ieyasu was first buried here in 1616 and the Nikko shrine was built afterwards. Kunozan is smaller and more densely decorated, its main hall is a National Treasure, and it receives a small fraction of Nikko's visitors — which on a port day is decisive.
How do I get to Kunozan Toshogu from Shimizu port?
Taxi to Nihondaira, about twenty-five minutes, then the ropeway across the valley. The alternative is a 1,159-step stone stairway from the coast, which is real and is not a port-day activity. Check the last ropeway down — it closes earlier than the shrine.
Routes that already include it
Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~3h round trip by water busMiho no Matsubara pine grove
The Mt.
See the detail
See · ~2.5h with taxi both waysNihondaira Plateau
The classic panorama: tea fields in front, Shimizu port below, Fuji behind — with your own ship in the frame.
See the detail
Eat · ~2h, walkableMaguro bowl at Kashi-no-Ichi
Japan's tuna capital, and the market a waterfront walk from the pier proves it — thick-cut bowls at fishmonger prices, picture menus everywhere.
See the detail