Old Stuff

Is this a catch-all section, where I'm going to show you pictures of old stuff that I haven't figured out where to put thematically? Maybe...

Our first trip together out of Tokyo was to Nikko. The shrine complex at Nikko is a different from any of the other shrines that we saw, and I hope by now I've impressed you with the number that we saw! It is ostentatious, to say the least, and therefore is quite not like a typical Shinto shrine (usually fairly austere). The story is that the Tosho-gu shrine was built as part of the will of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1616. His grandson didn't think it was fancy enough, and added to it. Why so fancy? Not just to honor his grandfather, or to display the wealth of the Tokugawa dynasty, but also for practical reasons. He ordered his lords, or under-lords, to pay for the construction of the shrine, therefore placing them in the position of always being just a wee bit strapped for funds! Both of these photographs were taken by Alan.

Even a simple pagoda gets the overwrought treatment.
This is a famous building, perhaps ostentatious in another fashion. This is the fabulous Kinkaku-ji temple in Kyoto, also known as the Golden Pavilion. The pond in front is known as the Kyoko-chi, or Mirror Pond! First built in 1400, it was burned down by a monk in 1950, who was said to be obsessed with the building. A replica was built soon after, and was regilded in 1987 at great cost.As a jutaposition, across town on the eastern side of Kyoto, is Ginkaku-ji, or Silver Pavilion. You might notice they are similar; Ginkaku-ji was built later in the 1400's. The story is that the shogun who built it intended to gild (?) it in silver, to partner with Kinkaku-ji, but that he ran out of money. Some doubt that was ever the plan, and that the "silver" comes from the dry garden, the "sea of silver sand." Apparently on moonlit nights the garden was full of visitors.
Nara, not far from Kyoto, has lots of old stuff, being the capital before Kyoto. This building for the bell was not far from the Daibutsu-den (remember, the big Buddha?).
This is one of my favorite pictures, taken by Alan. This is also in Nara, at the Kasuga Taisha shrine, first built in 768, rebuilt many times. These are a few of the 3,000 stone and bronze lanterns.This is one of the oldest things we saw, a waterfall! I have lots of pictures of it, but they all look like I was in the shower or something - there was a lot of mist. This one was taken by Alan, and was far enough away so it's not drowning. This is Kegon Falls, in Chuzenji (near Nikko). We took a bus up here, and were going to take a cable car to see this great vista of falls, lake, mountain (Mt. Nantai, which when it erupted thousands of years ago, created Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls), but the whole area was too fogged over. So we caught another bus and went into Chuzenji, and to the 100 meter elevator (through rock) to a viewing platform at the base of the falls. 3 tons of water flows over it a second, and, it's a traditional spot for lovers with no hope of marriage to commit suicide!