Nikko

Masao-san, a photo by zostra on Flickr.

Today we toured Nikko, home of the Rinnoji Temple, Toshugu shrine, Yakushi-do, and Taiyuin Temple. On the sacred stable (where the sacred horse does his two hours of service a day, i.e. hanging out in his stable where people visiting the shrine can see him) there are multiple carvings of monkeys, including the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys derived from the three major principles of the Tendai sect (the Rinnoji Temple is a religous center of the Tendai sect). As a result, you can see these monkeys everywhere, including outside a restaurant near where our bus had pulled over for a stop. Masao-san, one of our primary hosts, was kind enough to pose for me whilst taking his smoke break.

We also went to Kegon Falls, 97m high and quite beautiful. That night we went to the onsen (baths) and then had a wonderful formal banquet in traditional Japanese style, including all of us wearing yakuta (robes) that we had donned after the onsen.