Nikko

My mom and aunt came to Japan for a week in March, so here are some pictures of our travels!! I picked them up about 5pm, so we went to Tokyo to our ryokan, and had some tasty noodles on the way!  The next morning, we went to the city of Nikko.

Nikko is most famous for the Toshogu Shrine, so there are pictures I took on the path to the top of the mountain, where we found the shrine.

Can you believe it?  It was snowing!  I was quite surprised, but don't you think it makes Nikko look even MORE beautiful? (:  We didn't mind at all--it wasn't that cold!

This building is another reason Nikko is famous.  There are monkey carvings all over it!  The photo at the bottom left is the most famous one, of course.  Recognize them?  I'm not sure, though, if the image originated here or not.  I still haven't gotten a good, straight answer.

This is the hand-washing well you can use before entering the shrine.  Most Japanese shrines have a 'well' like this so you can wash your hands, and mouth if you like, to purify yourself before entering.

And this was kind of the 'real' gate into Toshogu Shrine.  It is a shinto torii gate, made of steel.  Most often they are made of wood and painted a bright orange.  This one was so old and pretty.

At the top of those stairs, you can see another gate.  These pictures to the right were taken of it's outter wall.  The details and colors were just amazing.  This is the first shrine I'd been to where the paintings were kept up this way--most places just let the colors fade.

NIKKO, page 2!!