Tōrōs (traditonal lanterns) keeping guard on the grounds of Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine
Dates visited: March 29, 2013
There’s a famous Japanese saying (translated in English as) “Never say kekko until you’ve seen Nikko.” Kekko means beautiful or magnificient and the city lived up to the saying. We made a day trip to Nikkō (93 miles north of Tokyo) to visit the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We started with the Rinnō-ji temple to see the large, gold lacquered, wooden statues of Amida Buddha, Senju-Kannon (Kannon, goddess of mercy, with a thousand arms) and Bato-Kannon (Kannon with a horse head) in Sanbutsodō (Hall of Three Buddhas). From there, we proceeded to Tōshō-gū shrine, a huge temple complex lavishly decorated with wood carvings and gold leaf. The 30 ft Ishidorii (Stone Torii) here, is one of the impressive stone torii gates in Japan. At Tōshō-gū, you get to see both Shinto and Buddhist elements in its architecture. As you enter the complex, each gate has very elaborate carvings, but the second gate (called Yōmeimon) has to be the most ornate structure with the most intricate carvings I’ve ever seen. The most famous carvings at this shrine are the three “see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil” monkeys and the Sōzōno-zō (imaginary elephants) carved by an artist who had never seen elephants!
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- Outside Nikkō train station, ready to start the day
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- This dragon spigot means business
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- A granite Torii gate at at Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine
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- The magnificently decorated Yomeimon Gate at Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine
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- Statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Yomeimon Gate
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- The five-story pagoda with each story representing an element—earth, water, fire, wind and ether or void (in ascending order)
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- Delicacy made with yuba (thin layer extracted after boiling soy milk)
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- The three “see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil” monkeys
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- The “hear no evil and speak no evil” monkeys… …the “see no evil” monkey was taking pictures!
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- One of the store rooms on the temple grounds
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- The Sōzōno-zō (imaginary elephants) carved by an artist who had never seen elephants
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- Bell Tower at Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine
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- The main shrine building at at Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine
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- The famous carving of the Nemurineko (sleeping cat)—symbol of peace
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- Temizu Basin for the ritual cleaning before visiting the shrine
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- Walking through the tall conifers to get to Tokugawa Ieyasu’s mausoleum
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- Tokugawa Ieyasu’s mausoleum; the bronze urn contains the remains of Tokugawa Ieyasu
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- One of the store rooms at Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine
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- Carving at Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine
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- The vermilion lacquered Sacred Bridge crossing the Daiya River