Nikko

In the words of these hearty fellows, click pictures for bigitude!


By thunder, it's difficult to know where to begin...Nikko is a small city north of Tokyo, rich in history and photo-potential. It has a sacred pedigree stretching back to the 8th century, when the priest Shodo Shonin, credited with introducing Buddhism to Japan, founded a number of Temples that bear the name Rinnoji. A legend about him crossing the river Daiyo, borne by no less than two giant serpents, resulted in the construction of Shin-kyo Bashi, the Sacred Bridge. 500 yen to cross...we thought it better just to take pictures.


And yes, this is going to be a "look at my holiday photos!" entry. I make no apology. Below is one of the aforementioned Rinnoji Temples, this one housing three gigantic golden Buddhas (photography is apparently forbidden), themselves considered manifestations of regional Kami.


A momentary break from Temples brought us up a very windy mountain road to a stunning view of Lake Chuzenji and the Kegon waterfall, thus...


...it cleared up later, allowing me to take THIS.


So anyway, back to Temples...after being established as a training ground for Buddhism, Nikko declined into obscurity for a bit, until it was chosen as the site for the mausoleum of Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It took some 15,000 craftsmen & artisans two years to create the shrine where the famous warlord rests. The style of the place doesn't conform to the Japanese "less is more" ethic, and as a result, it's received some mixed reviews...but I like it.






The place defies my puny mortal efforts to photograph it.






What's amusing (to me at any rate) is that the most famous icon to be associated with this Temple isn't the immensely significant historical character, rather, it's three monkeys.


Yes indeed, this is where the little blighters come from - a mural on one of the buildings depicting the life cycle of the monkey. Souvenier shops abound with the timeless trio, but I didn't buy one, as the damn things are so ubiquitous.

A quieter end of Nikko, merely ten minutes walk from our lovely hotel, is the Gamman-ga-fuchi Abyss, much less threatening than its name suggests.




Running along the course of the Daiyo river is a row of statues depicting Jizo, the patron deity of deceased children. Photo below courtesy of Hayley.


One of the statues midway is called the Bake-Jizo, so called because it mocks travellers who try to count the allegedly uncountable Jizos. I counted roughly seventy-four, my confusion itself seeming to tease me. There were a couple of plinths that, although weren't bearing statues, still had the distinctive red bibs I've seen on many a Buddha whilst here. What denoted a Jizo? What is the real difference between a Buddha and a pile of rocks? That's Zen for you I suppose.