From Japan Guide: Nikko has been a center of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship for many centuries, and Nikko National Park continues to offer scenic, mountainous landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys and hiking trails.

Nikko is a great place to visit during Autumn making the whale countryside glow with the leaves turning orange and red.  Nikko is easily accessible by bus from Tokyo with many 1 day package tour deals, the one I selected had a stop at the Samurai village on the way back.

Word of warning, be prepared for lots of people.

The photo is a panorama created for 8 individual shots.

As usual I have Expertly created 7 differences for you to find….. or just feel free to download the full resolution image. (52.8 megapixel photo)

Original Image

Modified Image

Here is the translation of the words on the side for those who are interested. Some of these are very old kanji so I can’t read them well, please leave a comment if you can read it better than me and I will update the post….

宇都宮市 　＝　うつのみやし　＝　utsunomiyashi = City of Utsunomiya

有志者中　＝　ゆうししゃちゅう = yuushishachu = Brave Man

明治三十年　＝　めいじさんじゅうねん = meijisanjunen = 30th year of Meji Period (it was built)

岡崎雪? ＝　おかざき　= okazaki = (Built by) Mr Okazaki

錆 ＝ ?? ＝ ?? ＝ built (best guess)

これを鋳す ＝ これ を い す ＝ koreoisu ＝ cast , Minted . 鋳 is the key kanji that means to cast, mint or coin. ( thank you nihon jin for this weeks kanji lesson )

The first temple in Nikko was founded more than 1,200 years ago along the shores of the Daiya River. However, in 1616, the dying Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made it known that his final wish was for his successors to “Build a small shrine in Nikko and enshrine me as the God. I will be the guardian of peace keeping in Japan.” As a result, Nikko became home of the mausoleums of the Tokugawa Shoguns, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Unlike most Japanese temples and shrines, the buildings here are extremely gaudy and ornate, with multicolored carvings and plenty of gold leaf, and show heavy Chinese influence. Some sense of dignity is restored by a magnificent forest of over 13,000 cedar trees, covering the entire area.

However, for all of the grandeur the shoguns could muster, they’re now over-shadowed in the eyes of many visitors by a trio of small wooden carvings on a stable wall: the famous three wise monkeys.

As with most attractions in Japan there were crowds of people spoiling what would otherwise be a nice shot, therefore I had to use GIMP to mask out everything and everybody I didn’t want in the shot.

I have also uploaded the original full resolution image to my .Mac site.

Metal [ˈmetl] noun, adjective

(of) any of a group of substances, usually shiny, that can conduct heat and electricity and can be hammered into shape, or drawn out in sheets, bars etc
Example: Gold, silver and iron are all metals.

Arabic: فِلِز، فِلِزّي، مَعْدَني
Chinese (Simplified): 金属
Chinese (Traditional): 金屬(的)
Czech: kov; kovový
Danish: metal
Dutch: metaal
Estonian: metall
Finnish: metalli
French: (de, *en) métal
German: das Metall
Greek: μέταλλο
Hungarian: fém
Icelandic: málmur
Indonesian: logam
Italian: metallo; di, *in metallo*
Japanese: 金属 , きんぞく , kinzoku
Korean: 금속
Latvian: metāls
Lithuanian: metalas
Norwegian: metall
Polish: stop
Portuguese (Brazil): metal
Portuguese (Portugal): metal
Romanian: (de, *din) metal
Russian: металл
Slovak: kov; kovový
Slovenian: kovina
Spanish: metal
Swedish: metall
Turkish: metal, maden

From there we walked in and around the shrine for about 2 hours and learnt a lot about Japanese history, the Shoguns, Emperors and basically the beginings of todays Japan. One of the most interesting things to see was the origin of the famous “Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil”.
I guess it had to originate from somewhere, I just wasn’t aware it was from Japan. The Nikko Toshogu Shrine, also known as the Sacred Stable, in Japan has a carving of three wise monkeys. Many scholars believe the monkeys were carved as a visual representation of the religious principle, “If we do not hear, see, or speak evil, we ourselves shall be spared all evil.” Others believe that the saying originated from a Japanese play on words. “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” translated into Japanese is, “mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru.” The Japanese word for monkey is “saru”, and sounds very similar to the verb-ending “zaru”. It is easy to see how the saying may have originated from a fun play on words.

The shrine also showed how Shinto-ism and The Nikko Toshogu Shrine, also known as the Sacred Stable, in Japan has a carving of three wise monkeys. Many scholars believe the monkeys were carved as a visual representation of the religious principle, “If we do not hear, see, or speak evil, we ourselves shall be spared all evil.” Others believe that the saying originated from a Japanese play on words. “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” translated into Japanese is, “mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru.” The Japanese word for monkey is “saru”, and sounds very similar to the verb-ending “zaru”. It is easy to see how the saying may have originated from a fun play on words.

The shrine also demonstarted the harmonious blend between the traditional Japanese religion “SHINTOISM” and the introduced religion of “BUDDHISM”. The Toshogu is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868. The shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Ieyasu and two other of Japan’s most influential historical personalities. Countless wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaf were used to decorate the buildings in a way not seen elsewhere in Japan.

After the shrine the tour group split in two, 4 of us going to the Edo Village/ Nija Theme park about 20minutes by taxi, and the other 40 people were going to try their luck at going to Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Waterfall. At this time of year Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Waterfall are about a 3 hour bus ride from the shrine instead of the usual 40 minutes. We definately choose the correct option.

After we had the rest of our day being dazzled by Ninja antics and practicing of every type of weopon Ninja’s used it was time to make the 3 hour journey back to Tokyo by train. As the train ride progressed and my consumption of alcohol increased I met some Japanese guys on their way back from a Golfing weekend. Needless to say they were very excited to have me sit with them and drink sake all the way back to Tokyo. Needless to say Monday was a little dusty. I have include a few nice pictures for you all to enjoy.