Nikko

Far from the heat and humidity of Nara and Kyoto, Nikko is a mountain town complete with misty mountains! It was very lord of the rings/pirates of the caribbean...depending on which sister you choose to listen too....as we walked up the the Toshugo shrine, built as an act of devotion by Tokugawa Iemitsu to his grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu (the Shogun made famous in James Clavells novel). I was extremely glad to have made it out to this small town because the shrine was so different from any other you will see in Japan. It's far from austere, as many shrine are, and impressively colorful. You can only wonder at what it must have been like when the paint was all fresh! Walking about the shrine complex you might think that the buildings must have taken a epoch to build. In fact it took only 2 years since little Iemitsu shipped in upwards of 15,000 craftsmen to lay down the 6+ acres of gold leaf that are found decorating the many carvings and paintings. Thats some serious devotion!