SHINKYO BRIDGE
The street from the station leads to the Daiya-gawa River, about a mile to the west. It is crossed not far from the Shin-kyō, a sacred red bridge with an arch, built in 1636. This bucolic bridge was destroyed in 1902 by a flood and rebuilt in 1907. Legend has it that the monk Shōdō Shōnin, the first Buddhist monk to establish his hermitage in Nikkō in 782, wanted to cross the river at this point to reach the top of Mount Nantai. Two huge snakes, 28 meters long, would have served as his bridge. It can be crossed in a less picturesque way today for a few yen. On the other side of the bridge, at the base of the steps of Rin Nō-ji, a stone monument erected in 1648 is dedicated to Matsudaira Masatsuna, the lord who took charge of the work on the Tōshō-gū and undertook to plant some 200,000 cedars. Only 13,000 remain today, contributing to the religious and solemn atmosphere of the park. A little further north, one can perceive the Hon-gū, a red lacquer construction, and also the Shihon Ryō-ji, built in 766 by the monk Shōdō. Both buildings were destroyed and then partly rebuilt at the same time as the Rin Nō-ji, a large temple built in 766 by the same monk Shōdō. In the latter, the statue of Kannon with a thousand arms, which is attributed to Shōdō, will be noticed beside two statues representing Godaison and Shōdō. The beautiful three-story pagoda is said to have been built by Minamoto Sanetomo, the third shogun of the Kamakura government (c. 1200).
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