#daiya river

[dochuff]

Intermission:

Winter Day on the Daiya River, Nikko.

[dummy-kanji]

shinkyō | 神橋 por Swiftblue Por Flickr: Nikkō-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan

[kyotodreamtrips]

The Shinkyō Bridge (神橋) is a beautiful, wooden and vermilion-lacquered bridge that is the gateway to the sacred Nikkō Mountains. The Shinkyō Bridge measures 28 meters long, 7.4 meters wide, and stands 10.6 meters above the Daiya River (大谷川). The bridge belongs to the Nikko Futarasan jinja (二荒山神社). According to legend, Shōdō Shōnin (勝道上人) and his followers climbed Mt. Nantai in the year 766 to pray for national prosperity. However, they could not cross the fast flowing Daiya River (大谷川). Shōdō prayed and a 10 foot tall god named Jinja-Daiou appeared with two snakes twisted around his right arm. Jinja-Daiou released the blue and red snakes and they transformed themselves into a rainbow-like bridge covered with sedge, which Shōdō and his followers could use to cross the river. That is why this bridge is sometimes called Yamasuge-no-Jabashi (山菅の蛇橋), which means the "Snake Bridge of Sedge". Sedge is a grasslike plant with triangular stems and inconspicuous flowers, growing typically in wet ground.