Narrow Road To The Deep North 47

A jumping lion was frozen in its moment of landing, supporting a side of the single stone granite fence. 
To our left was the Shinyosha shed whose dancing angels painted on the ceiling were considered the most beautiful in the country. It was built to contain the three portable shrines of the most venerated rulers of Japan- the god of Ieyasu rode on the central sacred sedan chair, decorated with three hollyhocks in a circle, the Mitsuba-aoi crest of the Tokugawa. The sedan chair on the right was for the god of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the one on the left for Yoritomo Minamoto. Each chair weighed over a ton, and took 55 people to carry it, until after 1636, when the shrines were remade lighter.
The vermilion lacquered Kairou Corridor to the main shrine of the Nikkō Tōshōgū was carved and transparently painted with clouds on the transom, roses, bamboo, plum, peacocks, pheasants and other animals on the wainscoting, and waves, clouds and phoenixes on the crossbar. Sky, ground and water.