Friday, November 10, 2006

My birthday in Tokyo Part NI (2)

Chapter 4 -

Nikko

Tim had wanted to see “real Japan”. So – we did. I looked through my bible, the Lonely Planet and asked if he'd be willing to take a long train ride up North to see a place called Nikko. I wasn't really too sure what Nikko was – but it looked like it might be “real Japan.” Here's a bit of the history I'm lifting right out of my Lonely Planet,

Nikko's history as a sacred site stretches back to the middle of the 8th century, when the Buddhist priest Shodo (735-817) established a hermitage there. For many years it was a famous training center for Buddhist monks, before declining into obscurity. That is, until it was chosen as a site for the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the warlord who took control of all of Japan and established the Shogunate that ruled for over 250 years until the Meiji Restoration ended the feudal era.

Tokugawa was laid to rest among Nikko's towering cedars in 1617, but his grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu, in 1634, commenced work on the shrine that can be seen today. The original shrine, Tosho-gu, was completely rebuilt using an army of som

e 15,000 artisans from across Japan. The work on the shrine and mausoleum took two years to complete and the results continue to receive mixed reviews.

Tosho-gu was constructed as a memorial to a warlord who devoted his life to conquering Japan. Tokugawa Ieyasu was a man of considerable determination and wasn't above sacrificing a few scruples in order to achieve his aims. He is attributed with having had his wife and eldest son executed, because at a certain point, it was politically expedient for him to do so. More than anything else the grandeur or Nikko is intended to inspire awe; it is a display of wealth and power by a family that for nearly three centuries was the supreme arbiter of power in Japan.”

Needless to say, that sounded enticing enough to bring Tim to. We woke up bright and early on Monday to get our way there. We navigated our way back to Asakusa – found the train station – after a bit of confusion – got our tickets, had some Starbuck's and was on our way to Nikko. It was going to be a two hour train station from Asakusa.

The train ride was very nice for me since this was Tim's first time seeing Japan as Japan and not as Tokyo. We were riding past small towns, ride paddies all the while seeing hills & mountains in the distance. I was able to relate some of what we were passing to what my town is like. It seemed so normal to me and so foreign to Tim (since it was). It took me a bit to realize that he was experiencing these sites for the first time. I smiled at the thought of that. We had to make a switch – and so we reached the station – saw a train in front of us and just hopped onto it – never really double checking to make sure it goes to Nikko.

Like I said though – we just kind of did our thing without maps and were making it okay to that point. We realized that once we reached Nikko we really had no idea where to go or what to do. Plan A – follow the whitey. There was another Western woman on our train – and we figured – well, she's probably a tourist. At the same time, I was glancing through my Lonely Planet as to find out what to do. Whitey led us right to a bus – which we hopped on. Good thing we didn't follow her completely because she didn't get off where you needed to in order to see the sights. Thank you Lonely Planet.

We got off and just followed the crowd. I read in my lonely planet that you can get a “Combination ticket” that allows you to see many temples & shrines for 1000 Yen or $10.00 USD. We spent about 20 minutes searching for that. We weren't really sure where to go since we didn't have a map of the area (so unprepared!). We walked all over – turned the wrong way a time or two. We kept ascending with stairs and small hills until we came across a huge temple – and with it a little booth selling this combination ticket. Score!

The first temple we visited was called Rinnjo – Ji. It was a large, red temple that was founded 1200 years ago by Shodo Shonin. We walked up some stairs, were greeted by a lady monk whom punched a hole in our ticket – and went on in. We walked around until we came to the “gold” of the temple. The reason so many people come to this temple and are inspired. You turn the corner and right before your eyes are three towering Buddha statues. The name of this area is Sambutsu – do or the Three Buddha Hall. All Buddhas are gold lacquered with special meanings. The Buddha on the far left is named Kannon, the goddess of Mercy and compassion. The central Buddha is Amida Nyorai, a primal God in the Buddhist sect. The Buddha that was to the far right was Bato – a horse – headed Buddha whose special domain is the animal kingdom. On your way out of the temple, there were several Buddha statues lining the wall.

The next area we came to was called Tosho – gu. You enter underneath a huge stone torii (marks the entrance to a Shinto Shrine). As soon as you enter, to your left you see a 5 story Pagoda. According to the lonely planet, That particular Pagoda was originally built in 1650 but rebuilt in 1818. The pagoda has no foundations but is rumored to have a long, suspended pole that swings like a pendulum, which will restore equilibrium when an earthquake hits. Once you cross into this area – you are first overwhelmed by how beautiful your surroundings are. Everywhere you turn, there are old, ancient, gold – lacquered buildings. At this point – you also see how touristy Nikko is. Of course, it is – I mean it is a World Heritage Site. To all sides of you are ancient buildings. My Lonely Planet helped clarify the importance of each building. The one building exhibited a carved elephant made by an artist who had never actually seen an elephant, nor a picture of an elephant. The carving was actually impressive once you learn that. It actually did look like an elephant, after all. The other cool thing we got to view was the original carvings of the monkeys that depict, “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. You walk around this level of buildings – and then you approach some more stairs. You climb up these stairs, pass through another torii and have a whole new set of buildings to explore.

We entered another building which is famous for their ceiling. On the ceiling, there is a painting of a dragon, known as the Roaring Dragon. Then, there is a monk in there who is probably telling about this place, not that we could understand. However, at the end of the speech, he bangs two wooden sticks together which is supposed to represent the roar of a dragon. It doesn't really sound like that – but it is also used to demonstrate the acoustics of the hall.

You cross through Yomei-mon – a sophisticated gate that has carved leaves, animals, flowers, mythical beasts. Once through the gate, you are again inundated with more divine buildings. The building straight in front of you – you can go inside. You take your shoes off – go in – and can see the worship hall.

After this area, we headed to Futarasan Jinja, another shrine that was founded by Shodo Shonin. This shrine area was dedicated to mountains. You can view the inside of the shrine from the outside, but then you can go into it's “yard” area and see around it. There was a cute, little pond, a little restaurant of some sort, basically, and REALLY old Cedar trees (my favorite!). Right outside of this area was a HUGE torii. See picture.

The last spot we visited in Nikko was called Taiyuin-byo. You climb up many, many stairs to reach it. Once there, you see more buildings. We entered one of the shrines to see the inside – absolutely wonderful. We walked around out back and came to a gate. Just visiting the sites and taking it all in. After that, we left the temple and shrine site and started walking back to look for lunch/dinner. We came back across the famous bridge – an icon of Nikko. The name of the bridge is Shin-kyo. It's a red bridge that crosses the Daiya River. The original one was constructed in the 17th century. It has become famous as the spot where the Buddhist monk – Shodo Shonin – who first established a hermitage in Nikko in 782 was carried across this river on the back of two huge serpents. Believe what you want!

After walking around a bit, we found a place to eat. Following the late lunch, we hopped onto a bus and returned to the train station. We had another 2-3 hours ahead of us. What did we do? We cracked open a beer. Then another, and then another. It was actually quite funny because everyone around us was drinking.

We got back to Shinjuku – a little tipsy. Relaxed a little before headed out for some dinner. I took Tim to this alleyway (shocking, I found it again) that I had gone to my first night in Japan. We ordered some beers and got dinner. This being the last night we would spend in Japan together.

We woke up rather late on Tuesday and went to Denny's for breakfast. Had a bit of a family chat, packed and walked back to the station. We said our goodbye's – but not sadly as I'll see him again at Lisa's wedding.

Chapter 5

Headed North


I got myself back onto the Shinkansen – even though I wasn't entirely sure it was the right one. I have relied on asking numerous people for help. The way back to Sendai – I again admired the landscape, started writing my blog, listened to music. The landscape certainly inspires me to write. It makes me dig deep down inside of me. This whole experience has me questioning who I am. I arrived into Sendai, bought my train ticket back to Ishinomaki, only to learn of a new challenge. There was one train that was going somewhere else at 4:50. My train wasn't coming until 4:59. It was 5:00 when the train arrived – I asked the woman next to me if it was the 4:50 or 4:59 train. She said it was the first and said the next train is the Ishinomaki train. Then, she continued to tell me it wasn't going to Ishinomaki. I asked her when the next one to Ishinomaki was. She kept telling me no train to Ishinomaki. I was really confused, and a little bit lost in translation. We finally got it figured out that due to a typhoon, they were not having any more trains go to Sendai for the rest of the night. Shit. What do I do? I was supposed to go to Japanese class tonight, and I need to work tomorrow.

I call Brian to get my advisor's phone number. I call him and ask if I can crash on his floor tonight. I certainly did not want to pay for a hotel and I was really confused. He said no problem. I waited around for him and finally I see his face looking for me. He asked me if I would take a bus, where I said I didn't care – I really just wanted to get home. Thankfully, he was able to arrange and translate and get me to the bus. He waited with me (cause he's awesome) and I boarded the bus. An hour and some minutes later – I was back into rainy, windy, cold Ishinomaki.

In reflection to my trip, I feel like I understand Tokyo much better and can navigate around it pretty well. I don't know all of Tokyo but for a city that is so big – I surely did get around just fine.


As always - to view more photos from my trip - check out the link "pictures" to the right.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Sara!

What a beautiful ending picture! In fact, all your pictures are absolutely gorgeous! It seems like you had a great time on your birthday and your writing is REALLY coming along nicely. Great job on this one! :)

Anonymous said...

Drink,Drink, Drink wharttt a suppprissse

wak said...

Hello! It's my first comment ,but I sometimes come here to check your diary.It's very interesting to read your point of view about my strange country Japan!! :)
I also like your photos! Hope you have great times in Japan.