Sunday, December 21, 2008

Nikko

Nikko is a small city, north of Tokyo, located at the entrance to Nikko National Park. It is famous for Toshogu, Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine complex and mausoleum of Japan's first Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The amazing shrine was established in 1634 and took 2 years and 15,000 artisans to complete.

Note: To view enlarged photo, mouse over pic and click
















A reenactment of ancient archery show where warriors on horseback shoot
targets took place on the Temple grounds

A parade of costumed archers and supporting cast put on a great show

A dramatic terraced river with man-made waterfalls runs through the town of Nikko


Another view of terraced river flowing down from a mountain range.
How exciting would it be to see the rip-roaring river during the winter or spring run-off?

1 comment:

owenandbenjamin said...

Great pictures. Nikko is my favorite place to visit in Japan. Ieyasu was the first Tokugawa shogun but he was not the first shogun in Japan. The first shoguns in Japan came about four or five hundred years before Ieyasu.