Nikko: Rinno-ji Temple

Rinno-ji is the first temple that one reaches on the shrines and temples walking trail in Nikko.

The Buddhist priest Shodo Shonin built the first temple in Nikko in 766 and it was named Shihonryu-ji. In the 17^th century the temple was renamed Rinno-ji subsequent to its association with the Tendai sect of Buddhism.

The temple’s main hall “Sanbutso-do” means “ Three Buddha Hall” . As the name suggests,  hall houses three gilted wooden statues of Amida Buddha, Senju-Kannon (the thousand armed Buddha) and Bato-Kannon (horse headed Buddha). These deities are also enshrined in the nearby Futarasan shrine and are regarded as the Buddhist manifestation of Nikko’s three mountain gods (kami). Another example of the coexistent Shinto-Buddhism practices in Japan.

The Sanbutsu-do is currently undergoing extensive restoration and renovation work which are expected to last for almost another decade. The temple is open to public but the exterior is covered by a scaffolding structure which carries a picture of the Sanbutsudo hall. 

A prayer hall behind Rinnoji temple   

Sorinto Tower is a 13.2 meter high Bronze pillar which is a symbol of world peace. It conains 1000 volumes of Buddhist scriptures (sutras). 

Opposite Sanbutso-do is the temple’s treasure house,Homotsuden, a museum actually where important exhibits pertaining to Buddhism and Tokugawa Shogunate are on display. A small Japanese style garden, Shoyoen, is located next to the treasure house.

 A statue of the priest Shodo stands on the grounds of Rinno-ji

Photography is prohibited inside the Sanbutsudo Hall and the treasure house. Photos of the exteriors and the Japanese garden are permitted.

Taiyuin-byo,the lavishly decorated mausoleum of Tokugawa shogun Iemitsu, is a part of Rinno-ji but is located further away on the shrine and temple trail. I will write more about it in a later post.

Opening Hours: 8:00-17:00 hrs ( Last admission 30 mins before closing time)

                        Closes at 16:00 hrs between November-March

Closing Days: Open 365 days

Admission  fees : 400 yen  for Sanbutso-do only.

                          300 yen for Treasure house and Shoyoen garden

                          1300 yen Combination ticket which includes entrance to Sanbutsu-do,

                          Treasure House, Shoyoen garden, Toshogu Shrine, Taiyuin Byo and 

                          Futarasan Shrine.  

Nikko: Bake Jizo and Kanmangafuchi Abyss

Kanmangafuchi Abyss is a small gorge along the Daiya river which was formed by an eruption of Mt Nantai, Nikko's most prominent mountain. The gorge has a nice walking trail with a beautiful scenery. 


Apart from the natural beauty, Kanmangafuchi Abyss is also well known for its Jizo statues. Jizo is the patron saint of children,travellers, the sick and the deceased in Buddhism and it is common to spot Jizo statues in many places, especially on roadside or at mountain bases. More often than not, Jizo statues can be seen with a red cloth tied around the neck and a cap like red cloth covers the head.   

Kanmangafuchi's 70 Jizo statues are lined up in a row  overlooking the Daiya river.  The Jizo are also called Narabi Jizo", meaning Jizo in a line. However they are more popularly known as "Bake Jizo", meaning Ghost Jizo because it is said that their number appears to change when viewed from different spots.   


On the day we visited, the place wore an eerie look, thanks to the rain. 

Nikko: Shinkyo Bridge

The Shinkyo Bridge is a red laquered wooden bridge over the Daiya River. The place marks the entrance to area where Nikko’s shrines and temples are located.

 As per legend, the famous Buddhist priest Shodo Shonin, crossed the Daiya river at this spot  on the backs of two huge serpents. Officially, the Shinkyo bridge belongs to the Futarasan shrine and its name translates to “Sacred Bridge”.

The original bridge was built in 1636 and its usage was restricted to general public. Only the Shogun and imperial messengers were allowed to cross the bridge. However the bridge was destroyed in a flood. The current structure was built in 1907 and even this was not open to public till the mid 1970’s. At present the bridge is open to public for an entrance fee of Yen 300.The bridge is listed among Japan's three finest bridges. 


Just across the road, is a stone marking Nikko’s inclusion in the Unesco World Heritage List.

 The road bridge which is open to vehicular traffic is located parallel to the Shinkyo Bridge.

Admission: 300 yen

Opening Hours: 8:00-17:00 hrs ( April-November) and 9:00-16:00 hrs ( December – March)

Nikko : An Introduction

Had heard a lot about Nikko and we had wanted to visit the place since long. Finally we did visit Nikko a few days ago. 

There is a saying in Japanese which goes : Nikko wo minakereba “kekko” to iu na .

Translated this means, Don’t say magnificient until you’ve seen Nikko. As a friend told me, it implies, that person who hasn’t seen Nikko hasn’t seen enough .

Nikko city in Tochigi Prefecture was a renowned Buddhist Shinto religious centre for many centuries. The city was founded over 1200 years ago by a Buddhist priest, Shodo Shonin who crossed the Daiya river on his way to Mount Nantai. The place impressed him so much that he set up the first Buddhist temple in Nikko, Shihonryu-ji, (now known as Rinnoji Temple) in 766.

Nikko’s shrines and temples are all located within walking distance from each other. The shrines and temples are ornately carved and decorated, unlike most other Japanese shrines and temples. The shrines and temples form part of the Unesco World Heritage List.

I will write more about the shrines, temples and other sights iin separate posts, to follow soon.  

It takes less than 4 hours for tourists to see the shrines and temples, perhaps reason enough why most tourists visit Nikko for a day trip. Combination tickets priced at Yen 1300 are available for entrance to all the shrines and temples and this is cheaper than buying individual tickets for each attraction. The shrines and temples are connected to each other by a walking trail which goes around from one monument to the other. 
There is no designated start and end point but most visitors follow the trail like this : 
Rinno-ji temple --->Toshogu Shrine --->Futarasan Shrine--->Taiyuin Byo.   

Nikko city along with Oku Nikko, the mountainous interior, forms part of the Nikko National park. Nikko’s religious and cultural heritage combined with Okunikko’s natural beauty, makes the area an excellent tourist destination. Located less than 2 hours travel away from Tokyo, Nikko makes for the perfect place for a day trip for tourists. Tobu and JR lines connect Nikko by railways. Tobu Railways is said to be the fastest and most convenient way to access Nikko by railways. In addition Tobu offers various kinds of passes such as All Nikko pass which provides unlimited bus and train access in Nikko and Kinugawa area, but does not cover shrine and temple entrance. This pass comes at a price of Yen 4400 and is valid for 4 days.

The World Heritage Pass which is valid for 2 days is priced at Yen 3600. It covers roundtrip to Nikko and Kinugawa and includes Shrine and temple admission as well. Additionally it comes with discounts for Kinugawa Theme Park

The Kinugawa Themepark Pass includes round trip fare, bus pass and admission to one of the theme parks - Edo Wonderland or Tobu World Square. The rates vary according to the choice of theme park. Edo Wonderland (also known as Edo mura)  is a history theme park where Japanese town lifestyle of Edo period has been recreated. All the architecture is in Edo style and people wearing Edo period costumes make up its population. Tobu World Square is a Theme park which contains 1:25 scale miniatures of 101 of world’s famous monuments. 

Of Nikko’s 2 railway stations, Tobu railway station is the busier one. A few hundred metres down the road is the JR station building, which is the oldest station in eastern Japan. 

The JR station building is a classic wooden structure built in 1915 and was designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Most tourist buses run from outside the Tobu station and the area outside the station also has many souvenir shops, restaurants and hotels. A tourist information centre inside the Tobu station building has helpful staff, also English speaking. They guide tourists and are very helpful. They have area maps in English, which are informative and easy to understand.

Like most Japanese tourist places, Nikko has its share of souvenirs and specialities. Yuba, a kind of tofu preparation is the most famous of Nikko’s specialities. We had the Yuba ramen for lunch. 

Various kinds of cookies and sweets carrying images of some of Nikko’s popular attractions are popular “omiyage” – souvenirs. 

Autumn is supposed to be the best time to visit Nikko, when the colourful autumn leaves enhance Nikko’s beauty. Nikko is humid and has considerable rainfall during summers, making summer the least recommended season to visit Nikko. Winters are cold and it snows quite a bit. Even in early spring, when we visited, there was snowfall on the grounds of the shrines and even in Oku nikko. Spring is a pleasant time to visit too. 

We visited Nikko in late March 2012. It was still pretty cold and it also rained through a large part of the day. We drove down from Iwaki to Nikko by car. Parking was easy to find. The normal parking rates are 500 yen for a day’s parking, which is what we paid for parking at a place close to the road leading to the shrines. (The tourist information centre staff guided us the closest parking lot). Free parking lots are available closer to the river, near the Shinkyo Bridge.

We visited Nikko’s shrines and temples on the first day of our 3 day trip. We stayed 2 nights in a hotel in the nearby city of Utsunomiya and explored Nikko and Oku Nikko on day trips. On Day 2 we explored Oku Nikko , where we visited Kegon no Taki (waterfalls), Lake Chuzenji, Akechidaira and Ryuzu no Taki. We skipped the onsen town areas of Yumoto in upper Okunikko and Kinugawa and also the theme parks of Kinugawa. We spent the third day of our trip exploring Utsunomiya, which is a nice city but unfortunately does not have too much for tourists. More on Nikko, Oku Nikko and Utsunomiya in following posts.      

Useful link:

http://www.tobu.co.jp/foreign/sight/nikko_contents.html

Japan's Children of the Tsunami

Yesterday night, hubby and I watched a documentary titled "Japan's children of the Tsunami".  In this very touching BBC documentary, children who survived last year's earthquake and tsunami speak about their experience. They speak about how one Friday afternoon, their life changed completely. They survived the disaster but few lost family members, few lost their friends and classmates, few lost their homes and hometowns , while most of them lost their childhood dreams. It is really touching to hear them speak about what they want to be when they grow up- the disaster changed their aspirations. Seven and Eight year old kids speaking about topics like radiation, technology and life shows how they have matured in the last one year. 

Do watch this video to see what these children have to say. 

Pray for the children of Fukushima.

 

Remembering 3/11

A year has passed since the triple disaster- Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear crisis - hit Japan's north eastern Tohoku region. The region's ordeal began at 14:46 hrs on that fateful Friday on March 11, 2011 and it continues. It will be years or perhaps decades before things change for people who have lost their loved ones, their homes and life's savings in the disaster. 

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the disaster and events were held all over the affected areas and even in other parts of Japan. Prayers were held for people who had lost their lives and messages of hope were given out for people who had survived. 

In Iwaki city where we live, a Candle night event was held in the Taira Chuo Park,near Alios, the performing arts center. 

Thousands of candles were lit in the park a little before sunset and they glowed into the night. The candle holders carried prayers for the departed souls and messages of hope for the survivors. 

A troupe of dancers from Okinawa also performed at the event. 

There was also a poetic rendition focussing around the disaster. 


The entire park was aglow with candles in the evening.

A local school band played songs of hope. Their rendition of " I love you & I need you Fukushima", was indeed emotional for the gathered audience.   

The song is a single by the group "Inawashiro-kos", a group formed by members of popular music groups, a month after the March 11 disaster. Their hit single " I love you & I need you Fukushima" captured the hearts of people because it carried a message of support from all over Japan to Fukushima prefecture, the hardest hit in the nuclear crisis. 47 of Japan's top actors and actresses,each representing the 47 prefectures of Japan, were roped in to feature in the video.

While nothing said or written can compensate for what the people in the region have faced or lost in the past one year, all I can say is, our prayers are with you. Ganbarou Tohoku, Ganbarou Fukushima. 


As they say in Iwaki dialect, Ganbappe Iwaki.