We stayed in a minshuku, which is a Japanese bed & breakfast, run by a really cute lady named Kiyoko. To get to the minshuku from the train station (or anywhere else in Nikko), you had to cross this bridge:
...and up this narrow little path...
... which was a pain in the butt when it was freezing cold and dark, but was otherwise, pretty dang beautiful.
Our room was traditional Japanese tatami style, which was really cool:
There was a dog named Bea-ta that the owner kept just outside the entrance to the minshuku. Bea-ta loves people, and was really happy to meet us. There was a sign posted stating that guests at the minshuku could take Bea-ta for a walk if they wanted. So of course that was the first thing we did Wednesday morning:
(don't ask why the only picture I got of Erik and the dog has the dog pooping... unintentional I swear)
Then we went on our way to check out the shrines of Nikko. My knowledge of the historical/religious significance of these places is sketchy at best... they were just purty, so we took pictures. I'll link to the wikipedia pages for the curious-minded. Below is a picture of the "Shinkyo" (apparently part of the Futarasan shrine, link to follow). They were charging Y300 per person to cross the bridge... so we just took the free one next to it and got a pretty picture. Haha suckers...
We didn't really know how to get to the shrines, so we just wandered around in some foresty stuff for a while until we found them (are you catching a pattern with this blog?).
We found it! Here's Rinno-ji:
And Toshogu. The whole shrine complex:
Purty things:
Now don't let that little sprig of cherry blossom deceive you... it was still freeze-your-butt-off cold. Still part of Toshogu... Here's the original "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys!!
And the lesser known 4th monkey: "Smell no evil."
And I think this one must be Futarasan. Another holy water pagoda thing:
After all that, I was freezing cold and tired, so we went to find lunch. We had Yubadon, which is a thick stew featuring "yuba" basically the skin the forms on the top of soymilk when you boil it. It was pretty good! Then I wanted to go back to our little cozy room at the minshuku. They had a space heater in there with some pretty gnarly fumes, so soon I was asleep.
Erik woke me up just in time to go for a little hike through the Ganman-fuchi Abyss.
Ha, there, see! It was winter. Cold, cold winter. Along the trail there were these little stone guys. I think they were intended to be monks. Some were missing bodies, some were missing heads, but the all had a little knit hat and red bib. I don't really know why they had clothing, but I'm pretty sure they were warmer than me:
The "abyss" is a little valley that goes along side a river formed by volcanic rock:
Yeah, those mountains surrounding Nikko? They're definitely volcanoes.
More little guys:
Erik liked this one:
They replaced this one's head with a little stone, just so they could put a hat on it. Awesome:
More purties:
Erik had me take a picture with this one because I matched:
Once out of the abyss, we got some dinner. The dinner was nice. But the dinner I really want to talk about was the one we had the previous night when we first got to Nikko (that I forgot to include in the previous day's post). So after checking in and dropping off our luggage at the minshuku, we headed back into town to try to find some dinner. This was only about 6pm mind you, but just about every place we saw was closed. Eventually we came across a place called Yakitori Garden. The sign was huge, in English, and said "Take out ok!" so we figured it was a good spot:
I don't know if words can do justice to the awkwardness of that situation. We walked in, and were kind of half-greeted by this awkward, quiet guy. We were the only ones in the restaurant. We sat ourselves down and there was a menu already there, with instructions to write down the "code" corresponding to your order. We did so, and I walked up to the counter where the guy was standing to hand him our order. During the 45 minutes it took him to heat up his little personal grill and cook our yakitori skewers, it became apparent that we were essentially in the front room of this guy's house. His roommates kept walking in and out, sometimes in pajamas, sometimes to use the bathroom located next to the eating area. The only food available was yakitori skewers. The guy didn't even have any rice. It was the Japanese equivalent to running a grill restaurant out of your living room, and cooking up chicken breasts on your George Foreman, while your roommates sit in the next room playing video games and drinking Mountain Dew. The experience was quite humorous, and for the rest of our time in Nikko we referred to the restaurant owner as "Skewers." And yes, I will mention Skewers again. He will be back. Don't touch that dial.
What a cool place to stay! Beu-ta is cute :) I've never been to Nikko, that looks like a really nice shrine!
ReplyDeleteThe little statues are depicting the god Jizo, a much-loved deity in Japan. He protects children (which is why he often is shown as a cute baby) and he also protects travelers (like you two!) which is why he is often found along paths and roads. People make little clothes for the statues to honor him, or as a prayer for him to heal their sick children or to protect deceased children in the afterlife. Red is often used because it symbolizes protection against demons and illness.