Hamamatsu Domain
Motoshirochō Tōshō-gū is one of many shrines in all locations in Japan dedicated to the deified spirit of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan during the Edo period from 1601 to 1868. The site of the shrine has especially strong connections to Tokugawa Ieyasu, as he lived at Hikuma Castle, where the shrine was built, for 17 years, from age 29 to 45. Hamamatsu Castle, which was ruled by a succession of "fudai daimyō" under Hamamatsu Domain was built overlapping the ruins of Hikuma Castle. Following the Meiji restoration. the castle was pulled down, and much of its area was subsequently absorbed by the growing urbanization of the modern city of Hamamatsu.