Wednesday December 1st, 2021. ( photos taken Nov 28th, Sunday)
Continuing with the trip to Nikko, in this post I shall show some pictures I took in the central part of this historic town. In my last post I talked about the more natural side of things and showcased crossing a wobble bridge that overlooked a river and beautiful autumn foliage.
Nikko is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It is about 140KM north of Tokyo, so if you ever land in the neon city, it isn't that far away and makes for a good day trip.
Now, I will be honest with you, when I first came to Japan, temples and shrines didn't appeal to me much. But these days I am always on the look out for the historical structures. I also prefer to go to them alone to actually soak up the vibration and behold all the details. This wasn't one of those days. In fact, we didn't even enter Toshugu shrine which is the major attraction in the town. The reason, the time and cost factor. It cost 1,300 yen to enter ( kids free) and for that price, we would want to take our time but we had to be on the road and heading back. ( that is a lame ass excuse come to think of it now.😄)
Toshugu shrine was a monument dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu.He was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great
Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Central Nikko was really awesome though, it felt like going back 400 years into Japanese history. Even the food stalls' servings seemed from the times.
At every corner there was a historic structure to behold. The area was moderately crowded with visitors walking around, observing, taking photos and most importantly, praying for good fortune inside the gates of the shrine. Many could be seen reading Omikuji; random fortune strips usually sold at temples.
I have no idea who this statue represents, but no doubt he was someone of importance. There was a water bowl beneath his statue with a dragon perched on it. Water continuously pours from the bowl so victors can wash their hands to purify themselves before entering the holy grounds. Or if you just want to wash your filthy hands 😄.
This temple below, I have a better photo of it in this post, do check it out and compare. Lighting and angle makes a world of a difference.
I like how this temple is nestled behind these huge trees. It made you feel like you were diving deeper into the Samurai metaverse, but this was reality preserved. Prediction, a Samurai Metaverse game will be launched and it will be one of the most popular blockchain games.
Even the gift shop was given that historic feel. The only thing missing were people walking around in kimonos. Every attraction in Japan has a gift shop and they usually sell locally produced products.
Here is the entrance to Toshugu shrine, as you can see it has quite a good flow of people. I suspect it would be more in the warmer months. Students from the surrounding towns usually visit the shrine on their school trips as its story is a major part of Japanese history.
Camera: Canon M50 Location: Nikko, Japan