NIKKO

The other day we took a trip to a little town outside Tokyo called Nikko. It was recommended as a nice day trip by our guide book. This is a town about an hour and a half away by train. We heard that it was a really cool place, with a temple and shrine area set back in a pristine forest environment.

The temple is a Buddhist temple built in the 7th Century AD, destroyed by an earthquake, then rebuilt again in the 1600s. It's a beautiful complex tucked away in this picturesque place. Steep mountains covered in 100 foot cypress pine trees and clear blue river running thru it. The Buddhist temple is dedicated to mercy and peace.

Behind the temple is a shrine dedicated to Ieyushu Takugawa, who was entombed there as a god in 1643. Takugawa was the shogunate who consolidated all of Japan into one country at the beginning of the 17th century. It was during his rule that Japan was turned into a Feudal state,and practiced a strict policy of isolation. No one was allowed to leave the country, and the merchants could only trade with China, Korea and the Dutch. Even the Dutch only could dock on a separate island, which only contained hotels, restaurants and brothels--those crazy dutch. His rule would set up the next 250 years, which is called the Edo period.

The shrine was absolutely beautiful, with intricate gold carvings, containing dragons, images of gods, and even some dancing girls--hey Takugawa did not live on bread alone. They even put in one of the pillars upside down so that the gods would not be jealous of its perfection. In front of the shrine is a small stable with carvings of monkeys around the top, this contains the famous hear no, see no, speak no evil monkeys on it. Inside the stable is a totally white horse--a gift from the New Zealand government. Also in the complex is a five story pagoda (pic at top of post)that does not have a foundation, it is held in place with a long pole down the center to make it earthquake-proof (see the Japanese were crafty even back then).

Also on these grounds is an immaculate tea garden, and museum behind it. The museum used to be a guest house. Ulysses S. Grant stayed there in the 1880s--I asked the lady at the gate where they kept his whiskey while he stayed--she pretended not to understand, but I saw her glance at the storehouse. This was also the place where the Emperor stayed during WWII.

In addition to these mentioned there are other temples and shrines, but there is a lack of English at these sights, and no English tours available. There would be a long plaque by these sights with long explanations in Japanese, but it wouldn't say anything in English. However we did find out that there was a guide map in English available by the ticket counter after we were set to leave--just a heads up for any of you who head to Japan.

On our way out of the complex we were stopped by a group of schoolgirls who wanted to practice their English on us. They were there with their teacher and one of their mothers who filmed us the entire time. We agreed if they would pose for a picture with us. As we were leaving they each gave us a bag of little origami animals that they had made as a thank you.