Kan'ei-ji

With the favor of the Tokugawa the temple prospered but, at least in the first years since foundation, it was just the Tokugawa family temple, while the sole funeral temple of the Tokugawa was still Zōjō-ji, where the second shogun Hidetada rests. His successor Iemitsu sent his remains to Nikkō because the Nikkō Tōshō-gū, mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the dynasty, was there; he however also built a mausoleum at Kan'ei'ji.[1] After that, the fourth shōgun Tokugawa Ietsuna and the fifth Tokugawa Tsunayoshi were put to rest in Ueno, and Kan'ei-ji became a Tokugawa funeral temple like Zōjō-ji.[1] Zōjō-ji didn't like the change, but after the next shogun Tokugawa Ienobu's mausoleum was built on its land, the custom became to alternate the temples at each generation, and that lasted until the closing of the shogunate era. Excepted Ieyasu and Iemitsu (buried in Nikkō) and last shogun Yoshinobu (also known as Keiki, buried in nearby Yanaka Cemetery), all of the Tokugawa shōguns are buried either at Zōjō-ji or Kan'ei-ji, six at one and six at the other. In what used to be the Kan'ei-ji cemetery near the Tokyo National Museum are interred Tokugawa Ietsuna, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Tokugawa Yoshimune, Tokugawa Ieharu, Tokugawa Ienari, Tokugawa Iesada and Iesada's wife Tenshō-in.[8] Ietsuna's and Tsunayoshi's mausoleums were destroyed in 1945. The cemetery is closed to the public, but can be seen from the street.

The last visit from Tokugawa shogunate member at 8 August 1863 by Tenshō-in, due to memorial service of her husband Tokugawa Iesada.

Devastation of Ueno after the battle. 1868 photograph.

In his book High City, Low City Japanologist Edward Seidensticker describes the last days and the destruction of Kan'ei-ji.

The revolutionary forces had occupied most of Tokyo, and Edo Castle and the majority of the Tokugawa troops had already surrendered, however one band of shogunate soldiers barricaded itself in Ueno with the intention to resist.[6] About 2000 men strong, it was composed of members of the Shōgitai, a military unit of former Tokugawa retainers.[8] They held the Kan'ei-ji's abbot in hostage, and maybe for this reason the Satsuma and Chōshū revolutionaries didn't attack immediately.[6]

On July 4, 1868 (Meiji 1, 15th day of the 5th month),[9] the final attack came and from early morning artillery rounds fell from Hongo's heights on Ueno.[6] After a fierce battle, in the late afternoon the revolutionary forces broke through the defenses in the south at the Black Gate (the Kuromon), near what is today Ueno Park's entrance.[6] There were altogether about 300 dead, mostly defenders.[6] Most of the artillery rounds had gone astray, causing fires in which the whole Kan'ei-ji and up to a thousand houses were destroyed.[6] The temple's abbot fled in disguise and left the city by boat.[6]