Day Eight: Nikko, Part Two |
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After a somewhat less than successful first attempt at seeing Nikko I was determined to see everything there was to see of Nikko's shrines and temples on the second day, so on Wednesday I made the now familiar track to the town and went straight to every good tourist's first stop - Shinkyo.
I managed to catch few seconds between the tour groups and snap few hurried pictures. At all other times the bridge was occupied by gazillion children that would roll across the bridge in a brightly colored wave (same hats), pause at the far end for a group photo and roll back to proceed on all the way across the river on a modern bridge. I skipped a step and instead walked directly across the not so sacred bridge to the steps that took me to the Toshogu Shrine area. At the top of the steps I was greeted by a very nice dragon and a statue of the founder of Nikko, priest named Shodo, who, apparently could boast a pair of ears to rival Buddha's.
Rinnoji was the first temple I came across and it's the one founded by Shodo in the 8th century. Just outside of it I caught one of the priests ringing the bell in the bell tower. The bells in temples are quite different from the ones we are used to, nobody would be able to punish one of these by cutting out its tongue.
The Sanbutsudo Hall ('do', btw, means 'hall' in Japanese, so such Japanese/English constructions sound a bit funny if you think about it) is the one with three big gold plated Buddha's that one is not supposed to photograph. I, however, am an uncouth barbarian with no respect for other people's relics and you have to actively enforce such rules, otherwise you get this result:
Although, because the hall is so narrow and the Buddha's are so large, pictures don't quite convey the whole grandeur of these figures. Across from the temple was the tiny Shoyo-en Garden, admission to which required a separate ticket, but we already talked about me and Japanese gardens, so I didn't mind and wasn't sorry about it at the end.
From there it was on to the Toshogu Shrine which contains all the most famous attractions of Nikko. First the stairs bring you to one of the largest stone torii in Japan:
Past the pagoda, not commonly erected in shrines, and after the first gate you can see the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkey carving over the stable door (the visiting hours for the sacred white horse kept at the stable were over, so all you got of it was the smell) and across from it - the Kami-Jinko with the carving of elephants that Kano Tanyu created from the descriptions, without having ever actually seen an elephant.
And then, finally, you approach the most famous Yomeimon Gate. It's much too gaudy for my taste but I can appreciate the work and effort that went into creating all the details. Gaudy probably went green with envy if he ever got to see this.
From Lena's account I knew that Tokugawa's tomb, the whole reason this particular complex was built, was nothing much, but I wanted to see the symbol of Nikko - the carving of a sleeping cat. Then, since I paid for it already, I climbed all 200 steps through the forest of cedar trees to the tomb.
A climb back down and a short walk brought me to the Futarasan Shrine, the oldest and simplest building around with an illegal picture-taker chaser on premises.
Finally, up another step of stairs is Taiyuin Mausoleum, where Tokugawa Iemitsu, grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, third Tokugawa shogun, and the builder of the complex, is buried. According to the guide book this Mausoleum is "serenely elegant", and, I suppose, it depends on what you compare it to. After the Yomeimon Gate, it did seem simple.
I was planning to visit the nearby Tamozawa Imperial Villa as well, but it was getting cold and felt somewhat damp and I figured I'd get a chance to see one imperial villa at Kyoto, so I skipped and instead returned to Tokyo, where I discovered my luck in missing the rain that drenched Tokyo during the day but never made it to Nikko. Complete album: |
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