Nikko shrines

Well, a brief update: it's Wednesday night and we're all safe and sound in Kyoto. You'll hear about that soon enough, but for now let's catch up on the events of our first weekend.

On Sunday Joey, Mike, Ton, and Luke took us to Nikko to see the temples there. Nikko is one of the spiritual centers of Japan, similar to Kyoto but smaller and closer to nature. The whole town is nestled in beautiful forested mountains. On the first trail we hiked there was a row of buddhas by the side of the path. Japanese buddhas don't smile like Indian or Tibetan buddhas, but they all share an expression of complete, unflappable serenity. Some of them were missing heads or were gone entirely, which Joey said was because of a flood that tore through the valley years ago.

After that hike Joey and co. took us to a trail that was full of temples. Unfortunately I couldn't understand the ubiquitous Japanese tour guides, and I was still too jetlagged to remember what Joey was telling me, but I do remember seeing a gate said to be so beautiful you could stare at it forever and not be bored. This gate was gilded, lacquered, ornately carved with depictions of animals, the works. I ended up giving it about five minutes.

We also saw the sacred stables, which house the (descendants of the) sacred white horse given to the Shogun by the Maori, on which are carved the famous "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." Shan ended up buying a small golden katana for 3000 yen at the gift shop, which convinced me to get a small golden kyudo arrow for the more reasonable price of 1000 yen (about $10).

We saw many more temples, but without the names of each one I can only give an overall impression. The temples were all dimly lit, with huge altars for the buddhas or Japanese gods. The level of detail I saw in the art and architecture was breathtaking; huge statues, snarling demons' heads, and immense golden lanterns were all painstakingly crafted and astonishingly beautiful. The respect these places were given was almost tangible. Everyone took their shoes off before entering, and everyone spoke quietly. I found myself doing it not to avoid offending the locals, but to avoid offending whatever lived in the shrine.

The last thing we saw was a small shrine at the end of a road lined with stone lanterns. The shrine boasted a haunted lantern with a dozen or more sword nicks at the base, apparently because guards standing watch late at night would often mistake it for a ghost or an intruder. We also saw a katana more than two meters long. After that we took a short hike through the forests of Nikko and went to our campsite. You'll hear more about that soon.

ian