Of course we had to get a couple more ema.
We left the goat with our prayers there, and brought the horse back as a souvenir.
This fancy building, in the Chinese style, houses the ritual cleansing basin. Yes, that's real gold leaf all over the top.
Teri performs the ritual cleansing.
This unbelievable structure is the main reason we've come to Nikko. It is named the Yomei gate, but is usually known as the "Sunset" or "Twilight" gate, inferring that it is possible to look at it all day until sunset and not see the whole thing. We saw a photo of this complex along with this gate in a magazine.
This is an extreme closeup of the gate. You can see what appears to be a dragon in the foreground, and some men playing a game (Go?) in the back.
The Main and offering Halls (Honden and Haiden) at the Shrine.
We're trudging along a long stone path way and up several flights of slippery stone stairs toward the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Teri pauses with her friend, Ah. These statues come in pairs, similar to Chinese Foo dogs, and are found at many shrines in Japan. They are called Koma-inu, and one is always shown with open mouth and horn on head. This is Ah, the lion. The other, known as Un, is a lion-dog and has a closed mouth.