Hot Potatoes
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
26
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Nikko,
Kanto,
Japan
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Slide!
.I carried on down the hill to the Shinkyo Bridge. This is a very famous red bridge, which several people told me about before I got here, where it is said two serpents rose from the water to form the bridge for a Buddhist monk on a pilgrimage so he could cross it. Its a lovely bridge, and indeed red, but perhaps not quite worth the fuss unless you are very religious. Nevertheless, I took some photos, before hiking up the hill to the main temples.
With lanterns lining the cobbled street on the picturesque walk up, you would expect something a bit different from the huge car park that greets you, and the rather standard front of the nearest temple. It was the first temple I'd actually been inside however, as many you can only view from outside, it was great to see the huge carved Buddha images. Emerging from the back of the temple, the view began to get more impressive. Coming into a wooded area, I was greeted by huge stone Torri on the approach to the exuberant temples behind. A five-storied pagoda stood among towering pine trees. Intricate carvings covered the buildings. The temples were clustered into four groups. One of the buildings features a carving of the original Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil monkeys. I was really impressed by this, but no-one else I've told seemed to care, so I'm getting it out of my system by telling you here
Still sliding!
.It was here that I finally got to sample the good luck fortunes that are on sale at all the temples, but usually only in Japanese. They had some in English. Apparently I will will find my lost item if I look in my neighbourhood and will become ill but get better again. Great. Apparently, as it was a good fortune it was OK for me to take it home and keep it, but if I didn't want it to come true, I should tie it to a string/tree within the temple grounds so it won't come true. Buddhism (in Japan at least) seems to be a religion of novelty as much as it is of faith. Temples all sell a huge selection of good luck charms to keep you safe from all sorts of life dilemmas. Religion in Japan is big business.
By this time, I was pretty tired, but I decided to make the trip to the walk along the river anyway. I had been told that there was an area of "standing stones" and that if you counted them as you walked, on the way back, there would be one less. I didn't really understand what these "standing stones" were, but I certainly wasn't expecting what I had got. Through the gates where you are meant to throw a coin in a hole, if you get it in you have good luck, I walked through a small garden area. There were a few stones lying around and I wandered if this was what the man in the hostel had meant
I was only slightly lost at this point!
. I carried on walking, and finally came across a huge long row of Buddhas, all wearing red hats and bibs. It was quite a sight to behold. A much lesser known, and lesser visited part of Nikko, I was really glad I made the journey. I thought it was a bit of a shame that more people didn't come this way, I was the only person who made the journey from the hostel I at the time I was there. The ground was dusted in a light covering of snow, and the place was very peaceful. I noticed that people had placed lots of small stones around the buddhas, and it was only weeks later that I discovered the significance of this. The buddhas are made to look childlike, to represent children who have died. They are there to protect and help the souls of the children. The children's souls are believed to be paying a penance, as they have not lived long enough to earn enough credit to get through the gates into the Buddhist heaven, and they have also unwittingly caused their parents grief by leaving the world young. So the children's souls are believed to have to move rocks from the river banks for eternity. People place stones around the children to help them with the task. This made the case of the "ghost" rock that disappears, have more significance.
I headed back to the hostel for Christmas Eve, after finally managing to find a shop that actually sold food, which had been surprisingly difficult. As only a small town, most of the shops contained the usual bric a brac, but somehow I managed to find some food being sold in a laundry. Random. I was greeted by a group Portuguese (and two extra people, one from Paraguay and one from Ethiopia) staying in the hostel, and after playing a rather hilarious few games of cheat (a card game that involves copious amounts of lying) we cooked some sweet potatoes on top of the closed fire. It was all we had. It took a long time. The potatoes were however, very tasty, and I was grateful that the group had invited me to join them.
