Shannon Sensei: Nikko

Where can you go to see the original Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil monkeys? Nikko! Thanks to Marie, off we went!

Nikko is a nice smaller mountain city outside of Tokyo.

Wow, it was really nice getting out of Tokyo and up into some nature and higher elevation. We got to Nikko by express train, and it took about an hour (after we got to the other side of Tokyo). We left the station and tried to get our bearings, so that we could head to the park, where all the temples and shrines are.

Well, we went the wrong way, but in doing so found a small, empty, silent (but for a song bird) neighborhood shrine, where we both took some good pictures and got to rest and relax a bit. We really realized we had been craving to get out of the city while we were here.

On we went, until the sight of lots of other tourists alerted us that we were now going in the right direction. We saw lots of souvenir shops and stopped in a couple (for souvenirs, food and a bathroom.) Just past the shops was the entrance to the park and a spectacular view including a famous red bridge, Shinkyo.

We entered Nikko park, walking by the granite slab marking it as a World Heritage site. We bought tickets for all of the areas andd went in. The park itself was beautiful and the shrines and temples were incredibly ornate! The first temple, Sanbutsu-doh is enormous! Just as we got there, they started ringing a giant bell. I caught it on video, because it's super cool:

Bell
Video sent by JollyOleShannon

We bought a couple of good luck charms. You put in the money and then reach in the box and pull one out. Whichever one you get has a bit of a fortune and a certain kind of luck. I got Ebisu, a "notable blessing diety. . . the diety of bringing laughter, the source of good luck, and the wellspring of happiness. . . the patron diety of prosperous business and deep satisfaction." You are supposed to keep them with you all the time. I stuck mine in my camera bag and this is the first time I've pulled him out again. . . oops. Into the temple we went. We got stuck behind a bit of a tour group, so we looked at the 3 very large different images of Buddha, and other smaller sized, rare representations of Buddha.

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