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On Thursday
3rd November we took the coach to Nikko, a small city at
the entrance to Nikko National Park. It is most famous for
the Toshogu, Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine complex
and mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa
shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868.
The shrine is also dedicated to the spirits of two other
of Japan's most influential historical personalities, Toyotomi
Hideyoshi and Minamoto Yoritomo. Nikko has been a centre
of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship for many centuries.
The lavishly decorated shrine complex consists
of more than a dozen Shinto and Buddhist buildings set in
a cedar forest. Initially, a relatively simple mausoleum,
Toshogu was enlarged into a spectacular complex by Ieyasu's
grandson during the first half of the 17th century. Countless
wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaf were used to
decorate the buildings in a way not seen elsewhere in Japan,
where simplicity has been traditionally stressed in shrine
architecture. |
| Below, left and middle: the approach to the
Toshu-gu shrine, the walls lined with lanterns. Right: the
entrance is marked by a granite torii (gate). |
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Left: the pagoda by the torii was rebuilt
in 1818 after a fire. The five stories represents the elements
- earth, water, fire, wind and heaven. |
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Right: having passed through
the torii gate, we passed through the Niomon gate, which
is guarded by two fearsome Nio figures. |
We now stood in a large
open area surrounded by amazing wooden buildings, all decorated
with carvings of fantastic figures, painted and gilded. |
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Above, left: the sacred
storehouse with its carvings of elephants (below left).
Above and below right: the Rinzo which contains a library
of Buddhist scriptures. |
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| As we passed the storehouse, we glimpsed the
astonishing Yomeimon Gate up a flight of steps. |
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The gate is lavishly decorated
with beasts and flowers. It has 12 columns, one of which
is carved upside-down, a deliberate imperfection to avoid
angering jealous spirits. |
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| Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) ensured
he would be enshrined as a god after his death. His tomb protected
by a crane is below. |
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After having seen the Tosho-gu
shrine, we made our way down again, passing through food
vendors, other temples and shrines and gardens with more
lovely Autumn colours. |
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We soon arrived at the Taiyuin-byo shrine. Finished in 1653,
it is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1603-51), grandson
of Ieysau, and a powerful shogun who closed Japan to foreigners.
The shrine was beautiful. |
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Nikko and the area around Lake Chuzenji, in particular,
are well known for their beautiful autumn foliage (koyo).
The best times to view the leaves depends on the elevation
and year, but today was a public holiday and everyone
went into the mountains in the area to see the colours.
As a consequence was sat on the bus in a traffic jam for
four hours and saw very little!
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