Nikko
Two nights ago, I was seized by the sudden inspiration to visit Nikko, a major tourist attraction about three hours north of Tokyo, depending on where you are counting from and which line you take (From where I live, Matsudo, it’s 2 1/2 hours by Joban-sen and Tobu-Nikko-sen). Nikko is an ideal day trip — the main shrine and temple area is a short bus ride from the station, and the main attractions are within walking distance of each other. There are of course, many interesting things that are further afield than the shrine area, but as a day trip, it’s not possible.
Anyway, the first thing that struck me on arriving was snow. SNOW. I have only been in snow once before, so much excitement. It wasn’t actually snowing, but close enough. There was enough of the white powdery real thing around to make everything look a little bit magical! It was very cold the whole time I was there, little did I realise how cold until I got home and looked at Yahoo Weather… Nikko had reached a princely maximum of minus six!
There are four main sites in the main shrine/temple area: Sanbutsudo, Toshogu Shrine, Futarasan Shrine, and Iemitsu Taiyuin Temple. Sanbutsudo as the name implies (if you can understand the Japanese of course) contains three immense gilded images of Buddha, very impressive, but no take of the photograph please. Toshogu is a riot of over decoration to make Corbusier wince, every surface of the shrine is covered in detailed and colourful ornamentation, creating a kind of visual overload. Futarasan is the least interesting perhaps, because I can’t remember what to say about it, but it’s there. Oh yeah, it has a little tea room where I drank amasake, which is a drink, reminiscent of porridge, made with the leftovers from the making of sake. At Iemitsu Taiyuin, more of the same really. There seems to be a bit of a predilection for free standing stone lanterns at Nikko, as you can see from the photos, and also depictions of “mythological” animals — the depictions of elephants are rather amusing! Anyway, enough waffle, pictures tell 1000 words… and slightly more, with a caption. NIKKO PHOTOS HERE!!!
