Enter the town of Nikko in Toshogu on a quiet day, and you enter a place that, while touristy, is a different slice of life than many places in Japan - especially in the autumn. Set against a backdrop of mountains, with colors of deep crimson, petricor, auburn, purple, and all manners of orange, you offset it with the greens of moss and the greys of stone or even the whites of snow.
Shops and stalls sell steaming buns filled with red bean paste, pork, or there will be roasted chestnuts here and there. Another place will have soba or tempura, with the most wonderful "umami" aroma wafting out of the door. Alas I do not have a picture of such things myself so I hope you will not mind if I borrow from google.
This is a very spiritual town though, being connected to the mountains and streams, to a lake beyond them and to the shrines and the world heritage site which I will discuss in another post. A statue of Shodo SHonin, the first person to explore the summits of Nikko greets the visitor as they enter the town, harkening not only to the Buddhist aspects of the place, but also Japan's mountaining heart.
Of course, Shinto is also represented, and our friends the foxes of Inari were not far away. Right outside our hotel was a tiny Inari shrine with little foxes and you can bet that I paid a respect after our long journey.
Meandering back down into town you find places have wood carvings that you can buy wood carvings, or a more unique gift to Nikko, a "single stroke" dragon painting. There are two such shops in the town, one of which I visited on my first time, a hilarious experience where we were pressed for time and I ran all the way up the hill from the bus stop to get a painting, and then ran back. This time, however, I wanted to get a proper experience.
The way the single stroke works is the artist asks you for the colors and message you want, and then using particular skills that would take decades to master, presses their brush with the colors to create the impression of dragons scales upon the sheet of paper. They swirl and curve the arch in the waves and sinews of these magnificent eastern creatures, then add talons, eyes, horns, pearls. Finally there is the message you wish to impart.
Watching the man work was something out of a meditation in myself, and I believe this began as a meditative exercise back in the day. The dragon in eastern cultures is a creature that brings rain, joy, it is a powerful being, a ruler that lives beneath the sea, belongs to a river or at least is the god of that river I think. The stroke of the brush is the river here, the strength behind it is the conviction of the artist, the spirit of the person's desire is the hope and dreams they wish to impart into the paper, the wishes they create. The beauty it all imparts in one harmonious action, and there you have the finished product now hanging on my wall years later.
Seeing these videos, watching the process, I am so glad I went back that second time to experience it. Running up and back a hill to just get a pre-done painting did not do it justice when I heard about it the first time. I still have that painting and enjoy it to be fair, but this one is special because it was done for me. If you are wondering what the message was, I don't recall exactly now. I believe it was "Fortune upon my family" or "May my family always be happy." I think it was a fitting desire.
Next writing I will delve into the world heritage shrines and sites, as well as some hidden places of Nikko.
