Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu Coloring Pages

The Gate with the Most Decorations in Japan

The Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu is a gate at Nikko Toshogu Shrine in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture. You can say it is the gate with the most carvings in all of Japan.
From top to bottom, the surface of the gate is packed full of carvings. There are a whopping 508 figures in total! You will find dragons, guardian lions, Chinese children, and peony flowers. No matter where you look, something is carved there!

It Is Called the "Sunset Gate"

The Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu has another name: Higurashi-no-mon, which means the "Sunset Gate."
If you look at the carvings one by one, you will never get bored even if you watch them all day, and before you know it, the sun goes down. That is how it got its nickname! In fact, many people who visit stop in front of the gate for a very long time.

It Is Surprisingly Compact

Even though it is such a famous gate, its size is surprisingly small.
It is about 7 meters wide, about 4 meters deep, and about 11 meters tall. That is just a little wider than a school classroom! The Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu is a small gate packed with as many carvings as possible.

12 Pillars and the Secret of Just One

12 white pillars support the gate. Swirling patterns are carved vertically into each pillar.
However, on just one of those pillars, the pattern is upside down! This is called the upside-down pillar to ward off evil spirits. It was not a mistake; they made it that way on purpose! You can learn the reason in the fun facts section.

A Shrine Honoring Tokugawa Ieyasu

Nikko Toshogu Shrine honors Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who started the Edo shogunate.
The Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu we see today was built in 1636. It was built when Ieyasu's grandson, the 3rd Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, rebuilt Nikko Toshogu Shrine into its current gorgeous design. The Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu is designated as a National Treasure.

The World Heritage Site "Shrines and Temples of Nikko"

The buildings in Nikko, including the Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu, were registered as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1999.
The registered name is the "Shrines and Temples of Nikko." It includes a total of 103 buildings, including Toshogu Shrine as well as the neighboring Futarasan Shrine and Rinno-ji Temple. Together with the surrounding cedar forest, they are protected as one heritage site.
By the way, the cedar trees lining the path in Nikko were planted back in the Edo period and are still here today. Giant trees tens of meters tall stand along the approach. These are the trees drawn in the background of the gate!

It all comes down to 3 main colors: white, gold, and black

The real Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu uses a whole lot of colors. But when you do this coloring page, it works best if you think of it in 3 big parts.

• Pillars and walls｜Leave them white. Keeping them white makes the whole gate look sharp!
• Carvings and decorations｜Gold (yellow-ocher + brown)
• Roof｜Bluish gray

Color these 3 main parts first, and then you can add the smaller colors.

Don't color every single carving

If you try to color all 508 carvings one by one, you might get tired halfway through!
We recommend that you only change colors for the ones that stand out. Dragons, Chinese lions, and children. Just add color to these 3 types, and color the rest all together with light yellow-ocher. That alone will make it look super fancy!

Leave some white spots for the gold

When you color the gold parts, put down yellow-ocher first, and then add brown only on the shady side.
Don't forget to leave the brightest spots plain white. The carvings are bumpy, so leaving the parts that stick out white makes them look 3D!

Follow the curves of the roof

The four corners of the roof curve way up, don't they? When you color them, move your colored pencil along those curves.
The middle part that arches up like a mountain is the most famous shape on Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu. Making just this part a little darker makes your picture look awesome!

Use dark green for the cedar trees

The cedar trees in the background are very famous in Nikko. Let's color them nice and deep with dark green.
Having dark green behind the gold and white gate makes Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu really pop out! If you make the front darker and the back lighter, you can show how deep the forest goes, too.

A Pillar Turned Upside Down on Purpose

Out of the 12 pillars of Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu, only one has its pattern upside down. This is called the upside-down pillar to ward off evil.
Why did they make a mistake on purpose? People believed that "a building starts to break down the moment it is finished." They say they left it unfinished on purpose to keep bad luck away. Not trying to be perfect was the best way to make it last!

508 Sculptures

There are 508 sculptures on Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu. In the whole shrine, there are over 5,000!
You can find dragons, guardian lions, flowers, and children from Chinese stories carved there. Many of them show lessons about Chinese learning and rules. It is just like the gate itself is a big picture book!

The Three Monkeys and the Sleeping Cat Are Somewhere Else

Nikko Toshogu is famous for the Three Wise Monkeys ("see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil") and the Sleeping Cat. But neither of them is on Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu!
The Three Monkeys are on a stable called the Shinkyusha. The Sleeping Cat is above the entrance to the East Corridor. They are in different spots from Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu. Try to look for each of them when you visit Nikko!

The Great Heisei Repair That Took 4 Years

Yomeimon Gate at Nikko Toshogu went through a big repair from 2013 to 2017 that took four years.
Workers took off the carvings one by one, put on new gold leaf, and repainted the colors. During the repair, the gate was completely covered by a building for the work. Its bright sparkle today came back because of this special care!