kenleewrites in 日本

Alright! Did you know that there are many Toshogu Shrines around Japan? Basically any Shinto shrine which enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu, is a Toshogu Shrine! But, the most famous of all, is this particular one in Nikko (his final remains are kept here too!). I think I should point something out… The Kanji (東照宮) already has the word shrine in it. That last character. The actual name of the shrine is called Toshogu (from those 3 kanji-s). Calling it Toshogu Shrine is just a convenience for us English-speaking folk. The same goes for rivers too. Most names of rivers in Japan already have the “river” character in it (usually read ~gawa or ~kawa). Remember this when you see a sign that says Tamagawa River or Arakawa River ^^. I don’t know if many people notice this though. Anyway, sidetracked too much ^^.

Here’s the 5 storied pagoda right at the entrance to Toshogu. Yeap. The surrounding trees are just as tall!

(more…)

I spotted this sign at the stairs leading to Rinnoji Temple from the carpark. World heritage site. No smoking anywhere!

(more…)

Sorry for all the short posts lately. Family in town means I get to do lots of sightseeing. But that also means that I come home late and very tired ^^. Rented a car and took a drive out to Nikko (日光) today. I didn’t realize that it was that far away. The drive there took much longer than I anticipated. But the drive back was quick; partly due to the fact that the driving conditions were much better at night ^^. A 2.5hr drive there and a 1 hour 45 minutes drive back. Ok… Maybe I was speeding just that little bit. I had good house tunes on and, you know, went with the beats. (Please drive safely and do not speed irresponsibly). Anyway, I hope to upload some photos soon! This one was taken on our way there. I was pretty surprised that the highways nearer to Nikko were quite deserted…