"Japan Exploration Academic Variety: Tuesday's Yoshizumi Kotaro" (Tuesdays at 7pm), a TV Asahi variety show hosted by Yoshizumi Ishihara and Kotaro Koizumi, explores the wonders of various famous places in Japan, including World Heritage sites and hidden gems. On June Getsuku, the show will air a "Platinum Family & Tuesday's Yoshizumi Kotaro Combined Special," in which they will visit Kan'ei-ji Temple in Ueno, Tokyo.
Kan'ei-ji Temple, which still serves as the family temple of the Tokugawa shogunate and is the resting place of six shoguns, boasted a vast precinct equivalent to 21 Tokyo Domes during the Edo period. However, many of its buildings were destroyed in the Battle of Ueno in 1868. In 1879 (Meiji 12), the main hall of the temple, the Konpon-chudo, was rebuilt in its current location.
After paying their respects to the precious principal image of worship that has remained since the Edo period, they watched the television premiere of a portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu, which is usually not open to the public. The portrait depicted Ieyasu in his later years, when he had been "deified." After his death, Ieyasu was enshrined as a special deity, Toshō Daigongen, at the suggestion of the high priest Tenkai, who founded Kan'ei-ji Temple. Upon learning the background, Koizumi remarked thoughtfully, "Everything, including Kan'ei-ji Temple, started with this person (=Ieyasu). It's a painting that gives a real sense of weight."
At Kan'ei-ji Temple, we were given special access to places associated with Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, that are not normally open to the public. One such place was the Aoi Room, where Yoshinobu lived in seclusion for two months after the restoration of imperial rule. It was revealed that, unlike his luxurious life at Edo Castle, he ate the same vegetarian meals as the monks and lived a simple life without even a bath.
The two also visited a long-established restaurant in Ueno Park. Ueno became a major leisure spot for ordinary people, but under the Meiji government, it evolved into Ueno Park, a Western-style theme park. During the Meiji era, horse races were held around Shinobazu Pond, and it also served as a social salon for the upper class. When they learned that Japan's first escalators, ropeways, and even water slides were installed during the large-scale event "National Industrial Exhibition," Koizumi exclaimed, "Isn't that amazing for that era!?", expressing his astonishment at Ueno's cutting-edge nature.
