• Leaving Tokyo Station bound for Nikko, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

• Kathryn's first Shinkansen ride

• Our first sighting of Mount Fuji was from the Shinkansen.

• Nikko JR Station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (according to DK Eyewitness Travel Japan ;-) )

• The mountains of Nikko National Park

• It was a pleasant day to walk from the train station to the temples and shrines. The day before, it had snowed in Nikko.

• Shinkyo Bridge spans the Daiya River near the entrance to the Nikko World Heritage Site. It is said that serpents came together to form a bridge here for the great priest Shodo Shonin so that he could cross the river to where he founded this Buddhist sanctuary more than 1200 years ago.

• Shodo Shonin was the 8th century Buddhist priest who introduced Buddhism to Nikko. He founded Rinno-ji Temple in Nikko.

• Sanbutsu-do (Three Buddha Hall), covered during renovation, is part of Rinno-ji Temple

• Sorinto, a nine-ringed bronze pillar, contains 1000 volumes of Sutras (Buddhist Scriptures) and is a symbol of world peace.

• Granite torii (1618) at the entrance to the Tosho-gu Shrine built by Tokugawa Iemitsu as a mausoleum-shrine for his grandfather Ieyasu

• Nio mon (gate) to the shrine

• This five-story pagoda, built in 1650, was donated by a daimyo (feudal lord). Each story represents an element - earth, water, fire, wind, and heaven - in ascending order.

• Pagoda detail

• Pagoda detail

• Pagoda detail

• Pagoda detail

• Pagoda detail

• Approaching the Nio mon

• Inside of the Nio mon

• Approaching the Sacred Stable, a wooden building with the famous decoration of three wise monkeys

• Sacred Stable

• Three wise monkeys

• Sacred Storehouses

• Sacred Storehouse detail

• Sacred Storehouses

• Prayer tablets at the shrine show an image of the 'crying dragon' found on the ceiling of the Honji-do Shrine.

• Unfortunately, our prayer was not answered by the Shinto gods or the gods of any other religion.

• The Rinzo contains a library of Buddhist scriptures.

• Rinzo door detail

• Rinzo detail

• The Rinzo

• Torii inside the Tosho-gu Shrine with the Yomei (bright sun) mon (gate) in the background

• Yomei mon

• Yomei mon

• Gate detail

• Gate detail

• Gate detail

• Gate detail

• Gate detail

• Statue of an Imperial Minister in a niche of the Yomei mon

• Gate detail

• The wall around the Haiden (sancuary) and the Honden (inner sancuary) was being meticulously restored.

• Sleeping Cat carving over an entrance in the east corridor that also leads to Ieyasu's Tomb. The carving is attributed to Hidari Jingoro.

• Sleeping Cat

• On the path to the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The path is bordered by cryptomeria trees (Japanese cedar) introduced by Lord Matsudaira in the 1600s.

• Stairs on the path to the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu

• Ieyasu's Tomb and Treasure Tower

• Leaving the Tosho-gu Shrine

• Nio mon (gate) is the main entrance to Taiyuin-byo, a Buddhist Temple and the mausoleum of Ieyasu's grandson, Iemitsu, completed in 1653.

• Nio (guardians against evil spirits) flank the gates into Buddhist Temples. The Nio with his hand up welcomes pure hearts. The closed mouth can symbolize the end (death) or holding in good spirits.

• The Nio with his hand down wards off evil spirits. The open mouth can symbolize the beginning (birth) or warding off of evil spirits.

• The inside of Nio mon

• Niten mon at Taiyuin-byo Shrine

• Komoku, guardian of the west

• Jikoku, guardian of the east

• The red god of thunder

• The green god of wind

• Yasha mon at Taiyuin-byo

• Kara mon at Taiyuin-byo

• Gate detail

• Koka mon, the sixth and final gate on the path to Iemitsu's tomb at Taiyuin-byo

• Torii at the entrance to the Futara-san Shrine. Hanging from the torii is a sacred rope made of twisted fresh straw called the shimenawa. It marks the presence of god or the boundary of a sacred area. The shimenawa is tied with strips of folded paper, called shide. The folded paper shide means 'paper of the spirits'.

• Futara-san Shrine dates from 1619 and is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the kami (god) of Mt. Nantai, the ancestor mountain of the Nikko region.

• Part of the Futara-san Shrine complex

• Looking back toward the Futara-san Shrine