19 February 2013, Tuesday

After a good night’s sleep, I woke up at 7:30am feeling fresh and energised for the day ahead. At 8:45am, I vacated my room at Nikkorisou Backpackers but left my luggage at the lobby because I would first spend the morning exploring the historic shrines at Nikko before heading back to Tokyo later.

Nikkorisou Backpackers was perfectly placed to explore the shrines, as it was located just two minutes’ walk away from Shinkyo Bridge (神橋), a sacred bridge standing at the entrance to the shrines. The Shrines and Temples of Nikko are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They form a single complex composed of 103 religious buildings within two Shinto shrines (Toshogu and Futarasan-jinja) and one Buddhist temple (Rinnoji).

In case you’re wondering, Shinto and Buddhism are two different religions. Shinto is Japan’s largest religion, followed by Buddhism. Shinto is considered the indigenous religion of Japan based on the worship of nature. Every living thing, even inanimate objects like rocks, are believed to possess a spirit called kami. Important kami are worshipped by humans. There are thousands of kami deities in Shinto.

Buddhism, on the other hand, was originally from India and China, and introduced to Japan later. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Buddha and it teaches how to attain enlightenment.

A shrine (jinja) is a Shinto site of worship while a temple (tera) is a Buddhist one. Aesthetically, there are differences between the two. Shinto shrines usually have a large gate called torii at the entrance, which is usually bright red in colour. The torii marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred world of the kami.

At Shinto shrines, you will definitely see a water ablution pavilion called a chozuya, where devotees must wash their hands and mouths to purify themselves before praying. You will also see strips of paper folded in a zigzag shape. These strips of paper are called shide and they too, represent a link between the secular world and the sacred world of the kami.

At Buddhist temples, you will usually see a large incense burner in front of the main hall for purification. There are also statues of Buddha and usually a pagoda, which is an evolution of the Indian stupa.

I first arrived at Rinnoji Temple (click here). Rinnoji (輪王寺) was established in the year 766 by Shodo Shonin, the Buddhist monk who introduced Buddhism to Nikko. The main building, Sanbutsudo (or Three Buddha Hall), houses the statues of three deities, which are considered Buddhist manifestations of Nikko’s three mountain kami enshrined at Futurasan Shrine – Mt. Nantai, Mt. Nyoho and Mt. Taro.

Unfortunately for me, Sanbutsudo was under renovation at the time of my visit and a large warehouse building was erected over it. The massive renovation took a decade and was completed only in 2019. I didn’t manage to see the three statues but the huge green plaque bearing the temple’s name in gold was being publicly displayed.

I continued on my way and soon reached the entrance to Toshogu Shrine (click here). Toshogu Shrine (東照宮) was established in 1617 and it is the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Of the 42 structures of Toshogu Shrine that are included in the UNESCO nomination, five of them are categorised as National Treasures of Japan and three more as Important Cultural Properties. This reflects the importance of Toshogu Shrine.

Near the main entrance gate is a beautiful five-storey pagoda called Gojunoto. You may remember I mentioned earlier that pagodas are a feature of Buddhism, not Shinto. However, Toshogu contains both Shinto and Buddhist elements. This was common then at places of worships until the Meiji Period, when Shinto was deliberately separated from Buddhism. Unlike at other shrines across Japan, where Buddhist elements were removed, the two religions at Toshogu were so intertwined that the separation was not carried out completely.

After passing through the front gate (Omotemon), I saw the Three Sacred Storehouses (Sanjinko). These buildings are where important artefacts such as harnesses and costumes used in the Procession of 1,000 Samurai (part of the Sacred Processions held in spring and fall) are stored. On the gable of Kamijinko Storehouse, you can see large elephant carvings called “Sozonozo Elephants”, or “imaginary elephants”. They are so-called because the artist Kano Tanyu had never seen elephants in real life before, so he carved them out of his imagination. Hence, they don’t really resemble the elephants that we know of.

Directly across the Sanjinko buildings is the Sacred Stable (Shinkyusha), a wooden building used to house the shrine’s sacred horses. Around the building are eight panels of friezes with monkey carvings, as monkeys have been regarded as guardians of horses since ancient times. Of the eight friezes, the Three Wise Monkeys (Sanzaru) is the most famous, depicting “See no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil”. Pity I didn’t get a close up shot of it.

Past the storehouses and the drum and bell towers, I next saw the famed Yomeimon Gate. One of the most renowned gates in Japan, it is filled with intricate stone carvings and ornate decorative details. Such is the beauty of Yomeimon Gate that it is also called “Gate of the Setting Sun”, because one could gaze upon it all day and never tire.

Beyond Yomeimon Gate lies the Main Shrine (Gohonsha), which comprises the Main Hall (Honden), Stone Chamber (Ishinoma) and Worship Hall (Haiden). This is the most important area at Toshogu Shrine, where annual festivals and events are conducted.

Following that, I visited Futarasan Shrine (二荒山神社), which was next to Toshogu Shrine. Futarasan Shrine was founded in 782 by Shodo Shonin, who also founded the nearby Rinnoji Temple. It is dedicated to the aforementioned deities of Nikko’s three most sacred mountains. Futarasan is also the name of Mount Nantai, the most prominent of the three mountains.

Compared to Toshogu, Futarasan Shrine is much simpler and there aren’t any grandiose buildings here. It was practically empty when I visited and the whole place was filled with an otherworldly air.

Located next to Futarasan Shrine is Taiyuin (大猷院), which became a subtemple of Rinnoji Temple during the Meiji Period. Taiyuin is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun of Tokugawa and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. To honour his grandfather, Iemitsu renovated Toshogu Shrine (his grandfather’s resting place) and had Taiyuin constructed to face Toshogu.

Out of respect to his grandfather, Taiyuin was built slightly more modest than Toshogu, though it is still very lavish. The layouts and building architectures are very similar, with ornate decorations covering the Honden and Haiden.

In all, I spent 1 hour 40 minutes touring the shrines and temples. Even though I did not get to see some of the temples and shrines in their full glory because of renovation works, I enjoyed the visit tremendously as the buildings were surrounded by beautiful forests all around. The lack of tourists only made the atmosphere more surreal as I felt like the whole place belonged to me and I could explore the buildings at will.

At 10:40am, I walked back towards Shinkyo Bridge. Having enjoyed last night’s dinner at Hippari-dako so much, I went there again for lunch. I had some yakitori rice and soba noodles, and it turned out to be even better than yesterday’s meal.

After a fulfilling lunch, I returned to Nikkorisou to grab my luggage before catching the bus to Tobu Nikko train station. At 12:56pm, my train departed Nikko. It had been a short but really amazing visit. I hope I can return again someday to experience the autumn colours.

At 3:35pm, I arrived at Tobu Asakusa station in Tokyo, where I then transferred to a local subway train to Shinjuku, arriving at 4:10pm. From there, I walked 15 minutes to reach my accommodation, Green Plaza Shinjuku Capsule Hotel, located at 1-29-2 Kabukicho, right in front of Seibu Shinjuku station. (Note: The hotel has since closed down)

Since I would be heading to Hakone tomorrow, I thought it would be ok to stay just one night at a capsule hotel to try it out. I paid JPY 5,100 (S$69.36) for my one night stay. I had been fascinated by the idea of capsule hotels for a long time so I was very excited to finally get the chance to stay in one of them. Back in 2013, capsule hotels weren’t so common yet.

At the time of writing this post in December 2020, capsule hotels are now commonplace around the world. You can find them even in Singapore, where there are many boutique pod capsule hotels with snazzy furnishings and features, a far cry from the original concept.

The first capsule hotel opened in 1979 in Osaka, Japan. The original capsule hotel rooms are small, placed side-by-side in a row and stacked on top of each other, resembling pillboxes. They offer cheap and basic accommodation for guests, typically the Japanese salarymen who may have been too drunk to return home, or had missed the last train home. As such, most capsule hotels are open to men only. However, the newer ones have separate levels for women only, but with the majority of the rooms still reserved for men.

As space is limited within the capsule, you have to store your belongings and bulky luggage at lockers located on a separate level. The capsules do not come with locks so you should also not keep any valuables within your capsule.

As capsule hotels are generally catered to Japanese salarymen and not for tourists like me, the lockers are tall and narrow – enough space to keep a small briefcase or bag but not wide enough to fit a suitcase or big backpack like the one I had. However, you can store your bulky items and luggage at the reception for free, just that it would be troublesome if you need to retrieve something from your luggage. Therefore, the best thing to do is to travel light, or pack what you need into a small bag that can fit into the locker, which you can access anytime with your key.

As I wanted to maximise my time in Shinjuku, I quickly packed my bags, took what I needed and kept them in my locker, before depositing my big backpack at the reception. I then headed out to explore Shinjuku.

Green Plaza is located at Kabukicho, the entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku. It is a colourful place with many bars, restaurants, retail shops and entertainment outlets. Everywhere I turned, I could see crowds of people criss-crossing the super-sized zebra crossings and huge neon billboards adorning the face of every building. The area had a certain buzz and it was very exciting.

I paid a visit to the Don Quijote store and my jaw dropped when I saw the huge range of goods that it carried. There were snacks of every imaginable kind, with many flavours of Kit Kat and Pocky that I had never seen before. There were also tons of electronics, apparel and groceries spread across the different levels. I was most amused by the costume section, where one could buy school uniforms, nurse attire and other cute characters for cosplay or Halloween parties. Japan is amazing!

I grabbed a simple katsu curry rice dinner before continuing my exploration of Shinjuku’s record stores. Tokyo is heaven for music lovers because the Japanese love physical CDs and vinyl records. I visited HMV, Tower Records and the different Disk Union outlets, with each outlet specialising in a different genre.

When I was finished with my shopping, it was time to head back to retire for the night. I went back to Shinjuku Green and found my assigned capsule number 3106. It was a tiny chamber roughly the length and width of a single bed. However, it was larger than I expected.

I found that I could sit upright without my head hitting the roof. There was even a television set inside, perfectly angled for watching TV while lying in bed. It came with earphones so you won’t disturb your neighbours, especially if you choose to pay for restricted content. There is no door but there is a roller blind that you can pull down to get some privacy while you sleep.

As you would expect from a capsule hotel, there are no ensuite showers in the room. As such, I headed to the communal bath to take a shower and a soak in the hot pool. After that, I went to the communal dining area for a late-night drink.

Upon check-on, everyone is given a set of pyjamas to wear, so it was pretty amusing to see grown men all wearing the same attire at the dining hall, sitting at their individual tables facing the TV screen, like an exam setting. I was the only non-Japanese there. They were all engrossed in reading newspapers or books, minding their own business. It was a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the locals. End of another fulfilling day!