Slow Photography #50 No Buddha Photographs: Shivering in Nikko, Japan

NO PICTURES OF THE BUDDHA ?

Shivering in the below-freezing January temps, we walked up the mountain road on an overcast day. A sign outside the shrine instructed all: "No pictures of the Buddha." OK, so how come?  

   Making my way through the shrine entrance to the quiet hall with its thick walls, I left my shoes at the door, and skated across the polished wood floor on chilled sock-clad feet. I was met by three Buddhas.

   All three wooden statues were smiling. Perhaps they were enjoying their off-camera existence or inhaling the blend of incense, mildew and lacquer in the room. The Buddhas were magnificent; each figure was covered in gold leaf. Collectively, they represented the three sacred mountains in the Nikko area.  

  It was slowly becoming clear why photography was taboo. 

   As I passed through the entrance gate, or Yomeimon, the detail of its construction was stunning. The Yomei-mon is one of the most elabo- rately finished examples of the seventeenth century wood-carver's art in Japan.

  Glancing to the right, I shivered, and not from the cold; there, a 14-foot high gate guardian stared down with a horrifying grimace.  I gazed, open mouthed with a combination of respect and awe which expanded when I read the history card. This guardian was a sculpture of Sadaijin. His scary facial expression was carved to terrify evil-doing mortals. Unless using my camera was an evil deed, I figured it would be all right to go through the entrance gate.




The gate had niches on each side. On two sides of the niches were boldly-carved white panels. Above them, I saw carved and painted birds.

SACRED TEMPLES OF NIKKO
 
Sanbutsu-doh means three Buddhas. Surrounded by hundreds of other shrines and temples, the Sanbutsu-doh Hall is only part of the huge Toshogu Temple in Nikko, Japan. Built by the Shoguns as homage to the gods, and as burials for the divine Tokugawa Samurai, Nikko’s temples are sacred. 





The town of Nikko is located in a mountainous area about 100 miles north of Tokyo. The Japanese have a saying about Nikko which, in English, translates as  “Don’t say Magnificent until you see Nikko.” Due to this magnificence, its sacred mountains, and its rich history, Nikko became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. The best times for photography are Fall and Spring. 



SLOW PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographing Nikko, I took my time and traveled light with a couple of fast lenses. Cameras are allowed most places, and clear signs are posted when photos are prohibited for reasons of worship or culture.

We drank lots of hot tea while photographing all day during the winter. Sitting down to warm out hands with hot tea cups, we looked over, hopefully, to a wall of sake barrels. Once each year, Nikko holds a famous festival. The temple monks open colorful sake barrels. Sake, or rice wine, is aged in colorful barrels carefully wrapped in plastic. Clearly, temple life for the Nikko monks is not all prayer and worship; cut open the sake barrels and these guys can party with the best of them.

 

SUPER SAMURAI

Speaking of cutting,  Nikko is a center for samurai. In its temple collections, I saw samurai armor, swords and household objects. They are marked with the Japanese sign for samurai:

   Toshogu Temple itself is a collective memorial to one particular super samurai, Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616). The last of 3 warlords to unify Japan, Ieyasu was the same Samurai that novelist James Clavell wrote about in the book Shogun. His brilliant craftsmen built Toshogu Temple, the most famous in Nikko; the project employed 4.5 million artists and craftsmen for 17 years. 




I wanted to photograph his Toshogu Temple because five of its sites are Japans national treasures: the Pagoda, Youmeimon ( the wise monkeys), Karamon, the Torii, and the Three Wise Monkeys. 

SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL

We hear this phrase a lot, but a visit to Nikko brings it alive. Let me backtrack a little and mention samurai life. Samurai were total warriors. Have you seen the film "The Last Samurai" with Tom Cruise? Well, then you have seen the Hollywood version of samurai battle skills. They were ferocious in battle, especially when mounted on horseback. In 16th century Japan, horses were rare. Caring for horses was vital, and it became a sacred duty. Someone had to mind the stable; it wasn’t a dead end job, the stable hands had a rigid code of honor.




   The Toshogu horse stable itself is a national treasure. Above its entry door, I saw, and photographed, the panels of the Three Wise Monkeys, colorful carvings on the horse stable building that embody the expression “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.”  The Japanese have another translation, reminding the stable hands of their expected behavior: “See nothing, Hear nothing, Say nothing.”


 

LIGHT FROM THE EAST

Nikko’s bell temple rang in the New Year just a few days before our arrival. The bell tower is carved wood and was carefully built to hold the many ton bronze bell. Prayers adorn the ceiling and exterior of the bell tower. Prayer, and poetry, are vital to worship in Japan.

 

  

  






Matsuo Basho, the famous Haiku poet, walked to Nikko in 1689. There, he wrote these famous lines: 

 O holy, hallowed shrine!

How green all the fresh young leaves

In thy bright sun shine! 

Basho’s bright sun shine inspired one of my photographs. In it, a Japanese priest walks up the steps of a temple whose name means “light from the east.” This light from the east refers to the dawn of Japan as a newborn nation. Taken as a whole with its shrines, temples, river and mountains, it was clear that sacred light still shines on Nikko: one of the world’s most scenic places.






___Thanks for your visit.

     Jim Austin Jimages M.A. is a teacher, writer, and digital imaging consultant. He taught digital photography for 5 years in the design department of Colorado University in Denver. Austin is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop CS. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, Photographer’s Gallery, and Denver Art Museum have all exhibited his work. The New Yorker Magazine, Nature’s Best Magazine, Popular Photography and Mastering the Nikon D810 have published his work.He has been a writer for Apogee Photo Magazine.

      Austin received a commission from the University Of Colorado Health Science Center to make a 17 foot wide by 6 foot high mural of 75 pictures for a memorial. Jimages provides wedding and portrait service and specializes in digital retouching. He has done volunteer photography for National Alzheimer’s Association, Breast Cancer Awareness and All Age Schools in the Bahamas.