Thursday, December 30, 2010

Nikkō, Tochigi (Part 2)

Once again, sorry for the extreme delay! Dealing with so many photos is incredibly intimidating...and most of my pictures sucked, except for the ones I took of people ^_^

So once again MOST of these pics were not taken by me!

Part 2 is dedicated to visiting Nikko's Tosho-gu (Shinto Shrine), Yomeimon, where Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined. Ieyasu was the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868) and by building the shrine it helped legitimize the families right to power (thank you Japanese Civ. class for that ^_^)

There is a long walk up to the shrine and many beautiful buildings with intricate decorations.

This is the Five Storied Pagoda which is 36m high. Originally built in 1650 but then burnt down in 1815. But descendents of Tadakatsu Sakai (the original contributor) had it rebuilt in 1818.

PS- Tadakatsu Sakai was the governor of Obama prefecture!

The sun was very bright through the trees and made for pretty pictures...most of which I didn't take

The building which appears in each of these pictures is called Kamijinko (upper sacred warehouse) of the Three Sacred Warehouses.  

The three monkeys are very famous...so of course we got many pics of them =D

"See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil"

As always, there is the omizuya (water house) for purification. Left hand, right hand, mouth, left hand, handle DONE!

The main Yomeimon Gate is very large, and as Jessica pointed out to me, one of the white pillars was purposely inverted to leave imperfection.

I really wish I knew what this building was for... The girl in white is Shoko ^_^ she is my JUSCO contact of sorts haha The temple is surrounded by trees and green (which was absolutely wonderful since Tokyo is mostly buildings!) Three of us climbed up to the Inner (back) Shrine [Okusha]. Even though the hike up completely exhausted me and made my fever go up, it was well worth it!!!!!

Throughout the shrine there are these rock sculptures that look like turtles... I forget why but I think it has to do with age...or wisdom???  The Shrine was very beautiful and I suggest it for any tourist! In Nikko there are also many Onsen and other historic sites.
After the Shrine we went to a traditional wood carving shop where we were able to carve our own souvenires! But that will be in Part 3

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1 comment:

  1. CreatorMarch 23, 2011 at 11:30 PM

    Hi,

    I stumbled upon your blog and saw the lovely photos that you have on Tochigi. My friends and I are trying to put together a coffeetable book on beautiful Tochigi to pay tribute for the terrible disasters that happened in Japan.

    Will you be able to allow us to use your photo for our book? Full credit will be given to the photographer.

    Thanks. I look forward to your reply soon.

    Take good care.

    With love,
    Fanny Tham from Singapore
    < fannytham@gmail.com >

    ReplyDelete

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