Monday, 1 May 2006

On Monday we drove up to Nikko to visit the temples and shrines. Even though Nikko looks pretty close to Takasaki on the map, it was quite a long drive because the roads are so narrow and the speed limit is 50 km/hr. But the scenery is pretty nice and there are lots of tunnels to drive through so I felt a bit like James Bond (but in a Minica not an Aston Martin) and I kept waiting for the light plane to zoom into the tunnel.

When we got close to Nikko, a whole bunch of monkeys (is that the correct collective noun??) ran across the road. We stopped to take a photo of them but Buster is too slow on the draw so we ended up with a photo of the roadside minus the monkeys.

The photo without the monkeys.

Nikko is a bit of a strange place to visit. All the guidebooks list Nikko as a must-visit destination but we were a little freaked out by it all. There were so many tourists and the whole temple complex was more theme park than place of worship.

The Buddhist shrines are incredibly ornate.

The National Park where all the shrines are is so beautiful.

There are about nine big shrines in Nikko and I can't remember which one this is.

After traipsing around all the big shrines with about 16 million people, we wandered down to the inn where we were staying and they suggested that we visit the Nikko Museum because it wouldn't be open the following day. The museum turned out to be the fully restored Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park. I think this was our favourite part of Nikko because it was so quiet and serene - it felt far more magical than the extravaganza that was the shrines.

The villa was huge and very beautiful.

After the Imperial Villa we walked down along the Daiya River and looked at all the Jizo statues at Gamman-Ga-Fuchi Abyss (which isn't an abyss at all, just a bit of river). These statues are the traditional protectors of travellers and children.

All the Jizo sitting quietly and gazing out over the river.

We also stopped by the Shinkyo Sacred Bridge (which is actually a modern reconstruction of a 17th century original but still pretty cool).

The Shinkyo Sacred Bridge.

We had dinner at little restaurant that I can't remember the name of. We walked in the door and the whole place turned and stared at us. Which was odd because they were all gaijin (foreigners - like us). Luckily the lady who runs it ushered us through to the other dining room where we met this great Japanese guy, Chiji.

Kampai!

Chiji was in Nikko on his own and had spent the day climbing one of the mountains around Nikko. We invited him to sit with us and we shared a few rounds of sake while eating. We were stunned when he told us that he was 70 years old - he seemed so young and full of life - on top of all the damn mountain climbing.