like, finding god and stuff in Nikko

so, I've never been a particularly religious person. but all this intense personality needs to get grounded in something, so I'm still looking. I guess. anyway, my trip to Nikko seemed apropro.

so I try and see another of the monster shrines but they are closed for the day and I wander around and find this path.


and so of course I have to follow it. I walk up these steps completely alone in the midst of huge cedar trees and begin to feel much better about myself and living in Tokyo. I walk and walk and climb. I take a break and sit on a stump, appreciateing the silence for a while. I get to the top and find a little makeshift shrine made mostly out of stone. I walk down the other side of the hill, picking my steps on the old stone steps.




this is where the steps lead me... but whatever the sign says is so much less important to me than the ancient trees and quiet.





I keep wandering until I find:




now this is my type of god. a water goddess. water, the ruler of emotions and tides. an older sister god. a fickle but powerful goddess. this is fabulous. this is what I needed to find even though I didn't know it was here! I feel better knowing that this exists in some quiet forrest a few hours from my daily drama.








I pray to her that the tides will not wash me away.









I continue my stroll and find another old mossy shrine


I walk behind it and find these guys



These little statues are tucked beneath a sheltered overhang. I don't know who they are or what they represent.

I pray that the weight of the world not crush me.

I feel like they are the ones I should ask for such a thing.

I wander back towards the station feeling calmer and exhausted. It's getting dark and my feet are sore. I get back on the train and sleep the whole way home. I wake up in Tokyo completely disoreinted and wonder if it was all a dream.

[Go back to Nikko pt. 1
or Nikko pt. 2