Buddhist Priest Tenkai was granted a site of the present Ueno Park, which was selected from several candidate sites, from Hidetada Tokugawa, the second shogun, in order to build a large temple that would serve as a hub of the Tendai sect of Buddhism in the Edo Period. At that time, there were secondary dwellings of feudal lords, including Takatora Todo, a lord of the Ise Tsu domain, Nobuhira Tsugaru, the Hirosaki domain, and Naoyori Hori, the Echigo Murakami domain, in that site. By the way, Mount Hiei lies to the northeast (so-called demon's gate) of Kyoto. The hill of Ueno was also in the direction of the demon's gate of the Edo Castle, so Tenkan considered the site as east Mount Hiei, and named the temple "Toeizan Kan-eiji Temple" after the imperial era name at that time.
  Tenkai planted Yoshino cherry trees, obtained from Yoshino Mountain, in that site, and the hill of Ueno became famous for cherry blossoms. Many cherry-blossom viewers visited the hill in the cherry blossom season. Kan-eiji Temple was a temple open to the general public, and Ueno Toshogu also became an open temple to which many people in Edo, who respected Ieyasu, visited.
  Although it is said that Ueno Toshogu had been restored once in every few decades, clear records are not preserved. A recent restoration work had been conducted from 2009 to 2013 (spending five years), and golden colors at that time were vividly restored.