Historic Nikko

Nikko is an old city in Tochigi Prefecture, about two hours driving from Koga. This past Thursday (November 13th) was a holiday, Ibaraki Day, so I had the day off. I was invited by one of my teachers at Sakai Nishi, Mrs. Ishiki, to spend the day in Nikko. She is a very intelligent and opinionated woman, and I really enjoy spending time with her and her family. Nikko is a very popular place to visit, especially in the beauty of autumn. Usually it is a very crowded place with tourists trying to catch a glimpse of the fall leaves before they abandon the trees for the cold winter. But, lucky for us, Ibaraki Day was in the middle of the week, so the surge of tourists was much less than normal.

On the drive to Nikko, we made our way up the mountain to finally arrive at this sleepy little town. The route is absolutely beautiful and lined with incredibly old, incredibly tall trees. It was as though we were driving through a natural tunnel. There were three long stretches of road with this kind of canopy, as we made our way up the mountain.

Because of its rich history, the temples in Nikko are considered a World Heritage Site. The temples are from the Edo period and were built for the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. They are incredibly ornate and beautifully adorned in wooden carvings and gold plating. At the entrance to the temples, there is a horse stable, and upon it are some carvings of monkeys. The most famous carving is of three monkeys vowing to Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil, and See no Evil. The other carvings are of the human condition - contemplating life, contemplating goals and dreams, feeling disappointment and failure.

Beyond that is a kind of grave site for all the shogun that lived within the temple walls. This grave site is located at the top of 200 stone stairs. There were many school age children at Nikko for field trips, and as we were climbing the stairs, we could hear them counting all the steps as they made their way down from the top.

Throughout the day in Nikko, the colors of the leaves and the light through the trees was gorgeous. I'm not usually one for "the beauty of nature," but even I can recognize how incredible it is that such vibrant colors exist naturally in this world. And the light was such that Thomas Kinkade would have had a field day! I kind of wish I could have had him in my pocket and commissioned a painting of Nikko right then and there!

After the temples, we made our way to the next town over to go to an onsen. This onsen was wonderfully relaxing and had an outdoor hot spring as well as two indoor. It was great to sit outside with the crisp air creating a mist on the hot water. After the onsen, we grabbed some soba for lunch and then made our way home. It was a nice low key touring day.

On the way home Mrs. Ishiki and I talked about all kinds of things. She is a very intelligent woman and a very talented and curious linguist and culturalist. Our discussions usually center around word pronunciation and meaning and cultural connections to linguistics. We talk about poverty, and insurance, and different ideas on health and well being. She teaches me about Japanese history and is always helping me learn more Japanese and more vocabulary and kanji. For that I am very grateful. I hope be able to continue spending time with Mrs. Ishiki when I stop teaching at Sakai Nishi in January.