As we walked along the park we found another little shrine...surprise, surprise.  Michael went up to it but I just got a photo of the two foxes at the gate.  One has his mouth open saying," Ahh".  The other has its mouth closed saying ,"mmmmmm".. the first and last letters of their alphabet respectively.

We walked down the cherry blossom lined street and voila ANOTHER SHRINE! This was up some steps and by then my feet were saying," save steps for the important Meiji shrine at our next stop."  I did get a picture of a tree that had been trained to grow in a circle knot.  It mimicked the painting during the Ukiyo-e time.  I saw a poster of the painting I was thinking of and took a picture of it and will send both.

Grove

Journal #37...Meiji Shrine

From the crowds at Ueno Station to the crowds at Harajuku Station.  Here is where we were  to see the Meiji Station.  Haven't seen so many people all in one place!  Sakura!  Cherry Blossom Sunday!

This beautiful shrine was built to honor the Emperor Meiji and his wife who were so instrumental in westernizing Japan.  There is a long and wide cedar lined trail that leads us along to the shrine.  Because we hadn't anything to drink with our  yakatori (chicken on a stick), we stopped at the restaurant by the souvenir shop and had an appetizer and Coke floats.  This restaurant and the souvenir shops are both associated with the shrine....no others can sell in the Meiji complex, no animals and a whole lots of other rules.  

There are lovely gardens the two loved and in June there are thousands of iris of every color.  Since they were not in bloom we trudged up the long walkway and skipped the garden.

The shrine was very beautiful.  The roofs are copper.  They were selling copper pieces that they would write your name on in Japanese.  The money from that  goes toward their copper roofs. There was not a lot of gaudy colors...much subdued more like the Zen temples.

Grove

Journal #40... Off To Nikko

Nikko is a wonderfully ornate shrine built by a grandson to honor his grandfather who was a famous Shogun.  This Shogun was Tokugawa Ieyasu.  He was one of the most successful and his family reign was 250 years.  It is totally carved with many beautiful birds.....mostly peacocks, lots of monkeys and one lone sleeping cat.  Guess which the Japanese is most obsessed with.  

Everywhere we looked there were elaborate carved  figures painted in bright colors.  The most famous monkeys at the see no evil, hear no evil and say no evil but there were also some funny newlywed monkeys off to a good life.  

It took a JR ( Japan Rail) train ride, a local train and a bus to get there so I knew we were in for a treat.  There were quite a few people around when we started but by the time we were ready to leave it was crowded like yesterday!  

We did the whole nine yards, even taking off our shoes and entering the shrine.  By the time we had climbed from where we got off the bus to the shrine, we had climbed mega amounts of stairs and ramps.  Michael decided he wanted to go to the tomb of Tokugawa. Remember he was the Super Shogun of whom this shrine was built.  It was pretty important but when we found that it was 200 steps Carol and I decided we would sit and wait.  No sooner did we three get down the hill a ways, Michael decided he wanted a picture of the famous red bridge......and that is when our next adventure started..........to be continued.  

I will send you my favorite pictures of this shrine...and yes I got the sleeping cat!

Grove

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