Nikko Shrines ~Marlon, Donna, Keiko, Yugi, Audrey, Greg

My eyes transfixed on the stunning 5-story Pagoda, and my feet became anxious to cover all of the grounds. The sun was so bright shining behind the pagoda I could not get a very good picture. The detailed carvings were amazing.

Details, details, details

Now, where were these monkeys?

The meaning of the “Three Wise Monkeys” that I have come to know is actually misinterpreted.  “Three Wise Monkeys” can be found on the second panel, and actually represent innocence rather than ignorance. Children should see no evil, hear no evil, or speak no evil because, as the panels that follow the show, they will encounter struggles as they grow up anyway. Childhood is a precious, fleeting time and once innocence is lost, it is lost forever.

Panels tell a story about the monkeys.

  Kairo (Corridor)  is the National treasure.  The exterior wall of the building is decorated with flower and bird carvings that are considered the best in Japan.  All the carvings are single panel openwork painted in vivid colors.

Honjido Hall was currently being renovated at the time we were there.

 The two elephants sculpted on one of the sacred warehouse (Kamijinko). One elephant is white and the other is black. The sculptor Tanyu Kano, had never seen a real elephant, so the ears and the tails are figured wrong.


Nemuri Neko nemuri means “sleeping” but also “peaceful” and neko means “cat", the sculpture is widely known as the “Sleeping cat", but the other translation has a more powerful meaning: because on the other side of the gate there is another sculpture representing a sparrow, it is said that the sparrow will be eaten when the cat will wake-up. But the “peaceful” interpretation says that the two animals coexisting signifies that the chaos has disappeared and that there is peace in the world. It was too much walking for me I waited at the bottom and the others walked to the top.