Day 12 - Nikko

. . . . Please no more steps!!!!!

Big day today . . . we are off on a day trip! We are going to Nikko. Nikko is about 125km from Tokyo and is a popular day trip. As we have our magic train passes, we are taking the slightly longer route, which includes another (and our last) trip on the Shinkansen. It'll take about 90 ~ 100 minutes to get there.

This meant an early morning . . . . not a problem?!?!!? Well apart from the fact that we were getting the Shinkansen from Ueno station and it was rush hour!!!! My god . . . we felt like we were swimming against the tide . . . all these suits coming for us!!! And we saw people getting shoved onto the Subway - just to squeeze that one last person on!!!!!

Unfortunately for Scott, I turned into a bit of train spotter this morning! As we have only used the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, we haven't seen the other types of Shinkansen . . . until today! When we got to the platform, there was a double decker train . . . .

Then our train turned up and it was two Shinkansen kissing!!! Awwww . . . .

This leg of the journey would take a while, so we had a bit time to kick back and relax and watch the scenery go by. We got off at Utsunomiya station to transfer onto the Nikko line . . . . 20 minutes later, we were in Nikko . . .

This was the view from the station . . . we are now about 125m above sea level - but it was an absolutely lovely day . . . the weather was perfect.

Nikko Train Station

Nikko is known for it's crystal clear water and there are these fountains for anyone to drink (it was deliciously cold and lovely).

Now, you may be aware now that Scott does not follow convention! So, while everyone got off the train and dashed off, my hubby stopped for a while and came up with a cunning plan. Nikko is FULL of hills (my poor legs!), so he decided we would do the tourist route back to front (There's a surprise, I hear you all cry!!!).

So, we got on a bus and went right to the top of Nikko to the first shrine. There is a Worship route round all the shrines and you can buy a combination ticket that's heavily discounted and gets you into all the shrines . . . so one combination ticket later - we were ready to hit the first Temple.

Futarasan Shrine
This was first on the list and at the very top of Nikko. This Shrine was founded in 782 by Shodo Shonin who introduced Buddhism to Nikko. Futarasan Shrine is dedicated to the Shinto Gods of Nikko's three most sacred mountains . . . Mt. Nantai, Mt. Nyoho and Mt. Taro. Should have been a clue there . . . . the Shrine itself was up an absolute mountain of steps (and I'm not exaggerating - honest!) Shodo Shoinin must have wanted to build this shrine on a mountain but instead put on top of some steps!

Steps . . .

More Steps . . . . 

Scary men!

Worth climbing the steps . . .

Taiyuinbyo

Next stop was The Taiyuinbyo. This is the mausoleum of the third shogun - Iemitsu.

Oh come on! You've got to be kidding me!!!!

 More scary men!

 Drum Tower

 Actually - we think he looks a bit camp!!!

 The mausoleum

 Now at this point, I have chucked a picture of snow . . . this is to show that over the past 10 days, we have experienced the full range of weather . . rain, hail, stormy winds, thunder, lightening, blistering sun and now snow!

Going down the steps . . . 

Apparently this was his sword! HUGE!

These two Shrines were quite close together, but the next one was a bit of a walk away. But it was a gorgeous path (and flat!)

Toshogu

The Toshogu is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.  This is an amazing shrine and is beautifully decorated - obviously no expense had been spared here! There are more than a dozen Shinto and Buddhist buildings set in the beautiful forest. The Shrines have been decorated with carving and gold leaf.

The first carving we saw was this one . . . 

Now apparently, the guy who carved the elephant did so from his imagination and from descriptions he had been given . . . he had never seen one before! I think he did quite well!

Also, here are the famous 'monkey carvings'. They tell a story of the circle of life . . . . I may have taken liberties with some of the descriptions as I can't remember the exact words of the all!!!

Mammy monkey looks into the future for her baby monkey . . . 

Children monkeys are taught 'Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil'

The monkey child preparing for independence

Looking up to the sky with ambition

Depressed with his life, monkey looks over the edge of a cliff while his friend tries to cheer him up  (my favourite!) 

Flirting . . . well falling in love!

Two married monkeys - Life is tough like a tidal wave (their words - not mine!!)

Pregnant monkey (where's the daddy gone?!?!?)

I loved the Monkey carvings . . . and obviously we all know the 'hear no, see no and speak no' monkeys, but I didn't know there were other carvings to go with them!

We now made our way down to the last Temple - The Rinno-ji Temple.

See . . . long way down, but with Scott's clever thinking, we were going down the hill . . and not up it like everyone else!

I was now a bit thirsty and my legs were hurting, so Scott said he would buy me a drink . . . . he came back with a can of coffee for him and a can of tea for me! Both cans were nice and hot (fresh from the vending machine) though and mine was nice - but you know how weak I have my tea! My man knows how to show me a good time!!

There was also a small shop by the vending machine, so we popped in to have a look . . . . and Scott bought me another Kokeshi Doll!!! She is gorgeous . . . Pink with Cherry Blossoms!! I love her.

Oh - we passed a pagoda along the way!

Rinnoji Termple
The Rinnoji Temple is currently being renovated. It should look like this . . . 

However, today it looks like this . . . . 

This is really clever . . . the whole temple has been covered up, but they have imposed an image of the Shrine on the cover!

We were still able to go in (but no photos).

Rinnoji is the biggest and most important temple in Nikko. In the main building (the Sanbutsudo), there are three large, gold lacquered, wooden statues of Amida, Senju-Kannon ('Kannon with a thousand arms') and Bato-Kannon ('Kannon with a horse head'). Scott thought the Senju-Kannon was the 'Swiss army knife' of the Kannon world as she had loads of arms behind her, each holding a different item!!!

So, we are now making our way (still downhill) to the train station. Last stop along the way was the Shinkyo Bridge. It is ranked as one of Japan's top three finest bridges!

However, if you want to cross it you have to pay 300Y . . . . . Hmmmm! Didn't do that!

So, a nice long walk back to the station down the main street gazing in all the shops. we hd to go back now as the we needed to catch the 4pm train so our connections would work.

The Shinkensen that took us back to Ueno had Cherry Blossoms on it . . .

Told you I had turned into a train nerd today!!

Anyway - we made it back to the apartment with aching feet, so time to relax and prepare for tomorrow.  We are going to try the museum that we couldn't do on Monday 'cos it was closed!  I also want to hit Shinjuku . . . .  . not too sure how's that's going down - Scott is already complaining we won't get everything in the suitcase!  Ahhh - we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!!!!!

Finally - tonight's blog was brought to you by the power of McVities Uji Matcha Digestive Biscuits (Green tea chocolate biccies)!!!  Lush - even better when dunked in green tea (though I'm sure you are not supposed to dunk anything in green tea!!!)

So - until tomorrow . . . . . the holiday is almost over - I'm sooo sad :-(


Love n hugs xxx