24 Jan 2013 - Japan day 7 - Asakusa, Nikko

to beat the morning rush hour, we woke up at 5.00am and took 6.10am train from Ikebukuro to Asakusa. we can confirm that not many people take the train at 6am.
 once at Asakusa, we had to find the TOBU station because i had bought the 2 day World Heritage Pass. there were several problems i didn't realise when i planned this. 
1. we can only take the rapid and section-rapid trains
2. those trains run once every hour
3. the accommodation i chose (Kinugawa-onsen) is a long train journey from Nikko

the view of the Sky Tree on a cloudy morning from the Sumida river park.

 Yoshinoya beef bowl breakfast. yum.

we boarded the 8.10am train to Tobu-Nikko. this is the view of Sky Tree up close.

interior of the train. it was a long train journey.

for section-rapid trains, the train would actually split into 2 at the interchange station (Shimo-Imaichi). you have to be in the right car that will then take you to Nikko or the other direction (Kinugawa-onsen and beyond).
at Shimo-Imaichi, there was an energetic train conductor lady who approached people to check if they are aware of this.

 the scenery was gorgeous and the weather was good.

 arrived at Tobu-Nikko station!

 we dumped our luggage into a giant locker for 700 yen and boarded the World Heritage bus. they had announcements in English, Mandarin, Korean for major stops.

 the Pass was very important as we had to display it to board the train, bus and to get this combination ticket（社寺共通拝観券） for 2 shrines (Toshogu and Futara) and 1 temple (Rinno-ji) from the first temple ticket office.

there are 5 tickets because there are 2 buildings of Rinno-ji and Yakushi hall is included.

the lady stamped today's date on each ticket, and indicated the sequence in which we can visit the temples. one can visit each once, within 2 days of the stamped date.

first stop was Rinno-ji (輪王寺), Sanbutsudo (main hall).

 we did not know that this huge factory warehouse-looking thing was actually housed the Sanbutsudo (三仏堂), the most famous building in the Rinno-ji collection of temples... ^^; 
it was still under-going restoration and no photography is allowed inside. 
it was weird to see the very ancient statues and intricate articles of worship amongst the orange reinforcement beams and stage lighting.

 Rinno-ji is actually a huge collection of 15 temples situated throughout the Nikko mountains, and was founded by a monk who went into the mountains in year 766. that's amazing.

 anyway we got out of the warehouse and was refreshed by sight of the golden giant trees, the fresh snow on pavement stones, and actual beautiful temple buildings.

 next was Nikko-Toshogu Shrine (東照宮). the view of the long and wide road leading to the shrine is simply breath-taking!

 the stone torii-gate. the stone came all the way from Fukuoka. wow.

the pagoda. the original was damaged in a fire and this is the one re-built in 1818.

 Nikko Toshogu is the most famous shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and was built in 1617. (wiki link)
the red building is the main gate to the shrine.

 at the main gate, we showed the guard our ticket to get in.
this is not the guard, this is a muscle man.
no, it's not a muscle man, it's a Buddhist guardian god called a 金剛力士.
they are usually topless, muscular and angry, and guard the main gates of temples.

 once inside, there are gorgeous buildings in brilliant colors.

we saw the 3 famous monkeys - See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil.  
they are part of the 8 wooden carvings of monkeys on the sacred horse stables, installed because monkeys protected horses... ?
 
there was a laminated print-out nearby, introducing the carvings in English and Japanese.
the 3 famous monkeys are actually an instruction for children to see, speak and hear no evil.
my favorite was the one with the depressed monkey looking down a cliff, and his friend trying to cheer him up.
there were love-sick monkeys, newly-wedded monkeys and expectant mother monkeys as well.
awesome!

and this is Youmei-mon, 陽明門, granted "national treasure" status.

said to be the most beautiful gate in Japan, it is lavishly decorated with more than 500 figures of saints, characters from old tales, children playing, men playing chess...
the problem was that it was very very hard to see much of the small panels with the human figures, with the gate being so tall and mostly overshadowed by the larger lions and dragons.

i found this, the wikimedia commons for Nikko. a lot of close-up photos there!