DAY 3 (2/6): TAIYUINBYO SHRINE (輪王寺大猷院), Rinnoji Temple, Nikko (日光), Japan, 2017.06.16
Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光), the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康), was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. Somewhat modest than Ieyasu’s final resting place, Iemitsu built his mausoleum less than ten minutes of walk away from Toshogu Shrine (東照宮). Unlike the tightly packed Toshogu Shrine, visiting Iemitsu’s Taiyuinbyo Shrine in Rinnoji Temple (輪王寺大猷院) was much more relaxing. There were only a handful of visitors during our visit. Despite the renovation scaffolding here and there in preparation for the anticipated visitor influx during Tokyo Olympics 2020, we had quite a tranquil and delightful moment as we wandered in Taiyuinbyo Shrine, a sub temple of Rinnoji Temple. We thought of visiting the other UNESCO world heritage temples and shrines in Nikko, such as Rinnoji Temple (輪王寺) and Futarasan Shrine (二荒山神社), but changed our mind when we saw renovation scaffolding here and there. Toshogu and Taiyuinbyo were the only two temples and shrines that we ended up visiting.
A pebble path with stone lanterns led us from the forecourt of Toshogu Shrine (東照宮) to the entrance gateway of Futarasan Shrine (二荒山神社).
The Futarasan Shrine (二荒山神社) is an important Shinto shrine in Nikko inscribed in the World Heritage along with Toshogu Shrine (東照宮) and Rinnoji Temple (輪王寺).
Other than the main hall and a number of shrines in the complex, the iconic Sacred Bridge (神橋 shinkyō) of Nikko also belongs to the Futarasan Shrine.
We didn’t go into Futarasan Shrine (二荒山神社), but passed by the Haiden (拝殿), the Hall of Prayers, a few small shrine pavilions and a stone lion at its forecourt.
From Futarasan Shrine, we found our way to Taiyuinbyo Shrine, a sub-temple belonged to the Buddhist Rinnoji Temple (輪王寺). The Taiyuinbyo Shrine is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光), the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康).
Similar to other major temples and shrines in Nikko, Taiyuinbyo Shrine also had its share of renovation scaffolding when we were there.
A long flight of stair led us to the main platform of Taiyuinbyo Shrine.
Approaching the core area of Taiyuinbyo Shrine was like entering into a spiritual venue in the embrace of tall cedar forest. The Yasha-mon (夜叉門) was the first splendid architecture we saw without scaffolding at Taiyuinbyo.
There are four Yaksha (夜叉) statues at the Yasha-mon (夜叉門): white, red, blue and green. Yaksha is nature spirits and guardians of natural treasures.
Not as extravagant as the Toshogu Shrine, Taiyuinbyo Shrine does have its fair share of rich carvings and architectural features.
Like Toshogu Shrine, gold and vivid colours are often used in the shrine design.
One big advantage of visiting Taiyuinbyo Shrine was its minimal number of visitors. Unlike the super crowded Toshogu Shrine, we pretty much had Taiyuinbyo all by ourselves during most of our visit.
Without the new golden and colourful paints, the screens at Taiyuinbyo Shrine looked even more natural than the ones at Toshogu Shrine.
The colour gold can be found on a number of shrine facades.
The final resting place of Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光) looks quite modest compared to his grandfather’s mausoleum.
The complex was quite empty and the sky seemed about to rain. We followed the visitor path and walked around the shrine one last time.
The bronze lanterns in front of Yasha-mon (夜叉門) appeared like chess on the board.
We had the shrine pretty much all by ourselves.
At last, we returned to Niomon (仁王門), where two fierce Niō (仁王) guard the entire shrine complex.
Blue Lapis Road 