So for this year, we celebrated Veteran's Day by Heather and I taking a couple's trip without the kids to Nikko. Nikko is a two hour drive north of Tokyo in the mountains. It's known for its incredible scenery and fall colors along with arguably one of Japan's most impressive shrines, Toshogu. This shrine was built in 1617 in honor of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who united all of Japan under his rule and established the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, which lasted until 1868 (a pretty long time).
I have seen shrines and temples all over Asia in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. I was not expecting much, but this one really blew me away. Not only was the natural setting beautiful, but the craftsmanship that went into building the shrine was amazing. And it has been preserved through major renovation efforts once every 50 years since it was built, so it's in great condition. Unfortunately, it's currently being renovated right now through 2017, so we didn't have the best views of everything, and it was raining, but we still were highly impressed.
Below you'll notice a carving of a cat. Nikko literally means sunlight. This sun-bathing cat is a symbol of Nikko as well as symbolic of peace. Also, this shrine is known for it's depiction of the 3 monkeys who see, speak, and hear no evil. The building it was carved on has 9 or so pieces depicting the life of a monkey in which is is born, learns wisdom, grows, passes on its wisdom, then dies. It reflects some of the basic creeds of this line of Shinto-ism.
Here's what the shrine will look like when it's not being renovated. The level of detail carved into the gates are amazing. Try to blow it up and look closely.
The surrounding area was gorgeous with the leaves in full fall colors.
Here's a statue of Ieyasu.
After touring the shrine and surrounding buildings and museums, we went hiking. We found a peaceful hike and a scenic trail along a river that was lined with Jizo statues, which symbolize gratitude and charity.
That night we stayed at a traditional Japanese ryokan that had its own onsen (hot spring). The next morning, we drove even higher up into the mountains and hiked around before heading back to Tokyo. It was a wonderful 2 day vacation. And it was so great to spend time just with my incredible wife.
I have seen shrines and temples all over Asia in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. I was not expecting much, but this one really blew me away. Not only was the natural setting beautiful, but the craftsmanship that went into building the shrine was amazing. And it has been preserved through major renovation efforts once every 50 years since it was built, so it's in great condition. Unfortunately, it's currently being renovated right now through 2017, so we didn't have the best views of everything, and it was raining, but we still were highly impressed.
Below you'll notice a carving of a cat. Nikko literally means sunlight. This sun-bathing cat is a symbol of Nikko as well as symbolic of peace. Also, this shrine is known for it's depiction of the 3 monkeys who see, speak, and hear no evil. The building it was carved on has 9 or so pieces depicting the life of a monkey in which is is born, learns wisdom, grows, passes on its wisdom, then dies. It reflects some of the basic creeds of this line of Shinto-ism.
Here's what the shrine will look like when it's not being renovated. The level of detail carved into the gates are amazing. Try to blow it up and look closely.
The surrounding area was gorgeous with the leaves in full fall colors.
Here's a statue of Ieyasu.
After touring the shrine and surrounding buildings and museums, we went hiking. We found a peaceful hike and a scenic trail along a river that was lined with Jizo statues, which symbolize gratitude and charity.
That night we stayed at a traditional Japanese ryokan that had its own onsen (hot spring). The next morning, we drove even higher up into the mountains and hiked around before heading back to Tokyo. It was a wonderful 2 day vacation. And it was so great to spend time just with my incredible wife.
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