The tō (塔, lit. pagoda^?), sometimes also called battō (仏塔, lit. Buddhist pagoda^?) or tōba (塔婆, lit. pagoda^?) is the Japanese version of the Chinese pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian stupa. Pagodas are quintessentially Buddhist and an important component of Japanese Buddhist temple compounds but, because until the Kami and Buddhas Separation Act of 1868 a Shinto shrine was normally also a Buddhist temple and vice versa, they are not rare at shrines too. The famous Itsukushima Shrine for example has one.

After the Meiji Restoration the word tō, once used exclusively in a religious context, came to mean also "tower" in the western sense, as for example in Eiffel tower (エッフェル塔, Efferu-tō^?).

Of the Japanese pagoda's many forms, some are built in wood and are collectively known as mokutō (木塔, lit. wood pagoda^?), but most are carved out of stone (sekitō (石塔, lit. stone pagoda^?). Wood pagodas are large buildings with either two stories (like the tahōtō (多宝塔, lit. Tahō pagoda^?), see photo below) or an odd number of stories. Extant wood pagodas with more than two stories have almost always either three stories (and are therefore called sanjū-no-tō (三重塔, lit. three-storied pagoda^?)) or five (and are called gojū-no-tō (五重塔, lit. five-storied pagoda^?). Stone pagodas are nearly always small, usually well below 3 m meters, and as a rule offer no usable space. If they have more than one story, pagodas are called tasōtō (多層塔, lit. multi-storied pagoda^?) or tajūtō (多重塔, lit. multi-storied pagoda^?).

Tupou VI (full name: ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho Tupou VI; born 12 July 1959) is the King of Tonga. He is the younger brother and successor of the late King George Tupou V. He was officially confirmed by his brother on 27 September 2006 as the heir presumptive to the Tongan throne, as his brother (a bachelor) had no legitimate children. He served as Tonga's High Commissioner to Australia, and resided in Canberra until the death of King George Tupou V on 18 March 2012, when ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho became King of Tonga, with the regnal name Tupou VI.

He was born the third son and youngest child of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV. He was educated at The Leys School, Cambridge from 1973-77. He started his career in the military, joining the naval arm of the Tonga Defence Services in 1982 and becoming a Lieutenant-Commander in 1987. From 1990 to 1995 he commanded the Pacific-class patrol boat VOEA Pangai and his time in charge included peacekeeping operations in Bougainville.

In 1998 he ended his military career to become part of the government, first as the defence minister and the foreign minister at the same time, from October 1998 until August 2004. He took over these posts from his elder brother Tupoutoʻa, at that time still the crown prince, later to become King Siaosi Tupou V (see below). Soon he was appointed as Prime Minister on 3 January 2000, a function he kept until his sudden resignation on 11 February 2006, for which the reason has never become clear, but was probably due to the unrest in the country since mid-2005, a series of pro-democracy protests calling for a lesser role for the royal family in government. His appointed successor, Feleti Sevele, was Tonga's first prime minister who was not a hereditary estate holder or a member of the aristocracy made up of 33 noble families. In 2008 ʻAhoʻeitu was appointed Tonga's first High Commissioner to Australia, a post he held until his succession to the Tongan throne in 2012.