The World Heritage site of Nikko, comprises
103 historic buildings and
covers an area of some 50 ha
(373 ha with its buffer zone). It
stands at the foot of the mountains
on the northernmost border of the
Kanto Plain, on Honshu Island, and
includes two Shinto shrines
(Futarasan and Toshogu), one
Buddhist temple (Rinno-ji) and
surrounding forests.
The Toshogu
Shrine and the Rinno-ji Temple
respectively hold the mausoleums of Tokugawa leyasu and Tokugawa lemitsu, the first and third shoguns
of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867.
The mountainous area around Nikko was considered sacred.
Ascetics lived there prior to the eighth century, and by the mideighth century the Buddhist priest Shodo had laid the foundations for what would become the Futarasan Shrine and Rinno-ji Temple.
The sacred mountains had become a centre of syncretic worship, fusing Buddhism and indigenous religions...
Yumi Isabelle Akieda
Ph.D. Student,
and Dr Kanefusa Masuda
Professor, Graduate School of Conservation,
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
|
|
