The deity enshrined at Tōshōgū is Tokugawa Ieyasu, progenitor of the Owari Tokugawa house, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868, and unifier of Japan. Ieyasu is also revered as the founder of Nagoya due to his development of the area and construction of Nagoya Castle, and appointment of his ninth son, Yoshinao (founder of the Owari Tokugawa clan), to lead the Owari Domain from the castle. Following his death, Ieyasu was deified with the name Tōshō Daigongen (東照大権現, 'Great Manifestation of Buddha, Light of the East').

In 1619, three years after Ieyasu's death, and following his enshrinement at the Nikkō Tōshōgū Shrine (Tochigi Prefecture), Tokugawa Yoshinao had a shrine built to his father within the Sannomaru quarter of Nagoya Castle, with lands worth 1,000 koku (koku was a unit of rice production used to evaluate wealth; one koku = enough rice for one person for one year). This status was withdrawn following the abolition of the domain system, with the shrine being designated a village shrine in May 1872, then promoted to a prefectural shrine in August. It was moved to the current location, the site of the former Owari Domain Meirindō school, in 1876.

Although the shrine structures were beautiful in form, and included a number of designated National Treasures, such as the vibrantly colored main hall, roofed corridors, two-storied gate, karamon gate, trellis walls, gagaku stage, and shrine administration building, all were reduced to ashes during the war.
The current main hall was built in 1651 as the mausoleum of Kōgen'in (Haruhime), wife of Tokugawa Yoshinao. It was moved from the grounds of Banshōji Temple (Naka Ward) to Kenchūji Temple (Higashi Ward) in 1914, and once again rebuilt on the current site as the main hall of Tōshōgū Shrine in 1953. In 1960, it was designated an Important Cultural Property of Aichi Prefecture.

Where: Nagoya Toshogu Shrine (名古屋東照宮), Naka Ward (中区) Marunouchi (丸の内) 2-chome 3-37
Access: From Marunouchi Sta. ( 「丸の内」駅, S04/T06) on the Subway Sakura-dori Line and Tsurumai Line, a 5-minute walk north from Exit 4, or a 3-minute walk east from Exit 1
Website: http://nagoyatoshogu.com/index.html (Japanese)