100th Post Spectacular: Nikko

Nikko was on my list of places to visit from the very beginning. Similar to Europe's feelings towards to Venice, the Japanese have a phrase, "See Nikko and die", which doesn't mean that the sight of Nikko will kill you, but that your life will be complete if you visit it.

And of course, I engineered all of my posts so that my visit to Nikko could be the 100th. It wasn't a coincidence at all. I really am that organised...

In case you are not familiar with the place, Nikko (日光, にっこう) is a small rural town north of Tokyo in Tochigi prefecture (栃木県). It is the burial place of the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is reknowned in Japan as a beautiful place to visit, which means that it's very crowded on weekends and public holidays. I knew this, so I booked some time off from Gaba to visit mid-week. I was lucky with the weather too, I went yesterday and it was 22C, clear and sunny. And it was hardly crowded at all!

There are a few ways to reach Nikko. I was searching for the best way, thinking "How do you reach Nikko from Tokyo?" I thought it would be very simple. And it was, it just appeared complicated at first.

I chose to take the tokkyuu limited express (特急) train from Asakusa to Tobu Nikko station. You can also take the rapid kaisoku (快速) service along the same route (Tobu-Nikko Line), and it's cheaper. The limited express takes 1 hour and 50 minutes and costs Y2,740. The rapid express takes 2 hours and costs Y1,320.

I took the more expensive option for the peace of mind of getting there quickly and directly. The limited express is reserved tickets only, but they seem to be readily available to buy just before you leave. There was one change at Shimo-Imaichi station (下今市駅) and then a local train went two stops (which took about 10 minutes) to Tobu-Nikko station (東武日光駅).

You can go via JR Lines, to JR Nikko station, but this is probably only a good option if you have a Japan Rail Pass. Take the Shinkansen bullet train (新幹線) to Utsunomiya station (宇都宮駅). This journey costs Y4,800 and takes 50 minutes. From Utsunomiya, you need to change for an ordinary train to Nikko, which costs Y750 and takes 45 minutes.


I took this photo and the video below on the train journey from Asakusa to Nikko. North Tokyo is so green! I was surprised at how happy I was to see grass and forests. Today was the first time since I came to Japan that I actually walked on green grass. It felt so good underfoot!




I was very tired on the train because I had only had five hours sleep, and then had gotten up at 8am (the earliest I've got up in a very very long time). I got the 10am train from Asakusa and arrived at Tobu Nikko station at 12 noon.



I thought Nikko would be a higher altitude than this, but that's probably why it felt just as humid and hot as in Tokyo. But the air was much fresher, the breeze was cool and refreshing. The sky still had a grey tint to it like in the city but it was a beautiful blue day all the same.

In the plaza outside Tobu Nikko station, there was this water feature.

As I began my hot walk up the hill towards the shrine and temple complex (you can take the Number 1 or 2 bus, and it costs Y170, but I wanted to see the town), I saw this sign. The top two lines say: 'It's Nikko. It's BS.' People really need to check what they're writing before they make big signs!
It was a pretty town, but at midday the air was very thick and dry. I went through nearly all my bottle of water just walking the 2km up the road.

I stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. The owner spoke a little English and gave me guidebooks to flick through while I ate. He showed me a photo of a French man who visited the restaurant and gave him a photo of him on the summit of an Alpine mountain. There was free iced tea as well, but he called it something else. When I asked for more iced tea he looked very confused, and I explained that that was the English name for it.

After my filling and cheap (Y650) lunch, I finished my walk towards the temple complex. The first thing you see when you reach the area is the Shin-kyo bridge (神橋). This reconstruction of the 17th century original crosses the Daiya River and is in the place where, legend has it, a Buddhist monk called Shodo Shonin crossed the river on the backs of two huge serpents.

I crossed the road (you have to wait for ages here for the lights to change, and for some crossings you actually have to push a button - unheard of!) and met this sign in the middle of stone steps leading up into a forested area. It wasn't clear which way you had to go to get to the actual temples, because there wasn't a big crowd to follow.

I went up the steps and wandered around for a while. The place as deserted. Just like my trip to Hakone, it felt so strange to be alone in the quiet.

It was lovely and cool in the shade, away from the midday sun.

I eventually found the temples and shrines, by following the path up from the steps to the left, and then turning left when I reached a road. Then I turned right when I saw a temple on the hill. The first temple I saw was Rinno-ji (輪王寺), where I bought a combination ticket, offering entrance to several temples and shrines for a total price of Y1,300. This is so much cheaper than paying for individual places, so definitely buy this if you go.


I first went into Rinno-ji's Japanese garden, and had a wander round through there. As you would expect, it was beautiful.


More fish!

And green! I love green.

After the garden, I headed to Rinno-ji itself. Unfortunately, in all of the temples, photography was forbidden so you'll have to use your imagination.

Rinno-ji is famous for its Three Buddha Hall (Sanbutsu-dou), which was three massive gold statues of Buddhist deities. The most impressive was Kannon. She is the goddess of mercy and compassion. The 1,000-armed Kannon was great. It was exactly how you would imagine a big Buddhist temple.
The school groups started to arrive then. But it was fine, it wasn't quiet, but it wasn't heaving.
There's a small garden at the back of Rinno-ji which you can visit afterwards.

After that, it was time for the main event - Toshogu Shrine (東照宮). This impressive shrine was built by 15,000 artisans under the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu's grandson, Iemitsu. They started work in 1634, and finished it 2 years later. Toshogu Shrine was constructed as a memorial to Ieyasu, but it was also meant to show off the wealth and power of the Tokugawa shogunate, who ruled Japan for 250 years until the feudal era ended at the beginning of the Meiji Restoration.

The Shrine area is absolutely huge, but it begins here, with the first torii.
To the left here is a five-storied pagoda. The detail on each level was amazing.
This pagoda doesn't have any foundations, and is supported by a suspended pole that would swing with the building in the event of an earthquake to keep it steady.

Looking back at the pagoda area from the steps leading to the next area.

There are three storehouses here. They are adorned with carvings and paintings of creatures of all shapes and sizes.

The artist who sculpted these elephants apparently did the work without ever seeing a real one.

There were wooden boards covered in prayers for good fortune and luck. They cost about Y700.

The second torii leads to the actual temple.

I went into a hall called Honji-dou, which had a huge painting of a dragon on the ceiling. There was a monk explaining about its history (in Japanese only, of course) and he hit two wooden sticks together, to imitate the roar of the dragon. Though it did sound more like he was imitating the dragon playing percussion.

Here is the famous Yomei-mon Gate. It is literally covered with carvings of mystical beasts and animals. It looked great.

There are statues of shogun on either side of the gate.

To the right of the gate is the entrance to Ieyasu tomb and the tiny statue of a sleeping cat (Nemuri Neko). This isn't included in the price of the combination ticket, and costs Y520.
It's a long, tiring walk to the tomb, but walking through the wooded area is nice.

Ieyasu's tomb was surprisingly humble, when you compare it to Toshogu Shrine. People criticise Toshogu, saying it's overblown, but that was the idea, and it is pretty spectacular.

So many bugs in the countryside! I noticed that when I went to visit a friend in West Tokyo, out of the main city area, and it's shocking how many there are buzzing and crawling around the place.
This was just randomly carved out of an old tree.

It took me a long time to actually find the tiny sleeping cat, but it was just above the entrance. I walked straight past it!

There was so much to see in the shrine area, I wandered around for nearly an hour.

There were school groups having their photos taken in front of the shrine and the photographer was calling for them to shout 'Helloooo' as he shot them. Once they had finished, a young boy waved at me and called 'Hello! Hello! Hello!' I smiled and waved back. I wasn't quite sure if he was talking to me because there were quite a few foreigners around.

After I left Toshogu, I headed to a few of the other places I had entry to on the combination ticket. This one wasn't anything special, but it was surrounded by huge shady cedars, making it a nice cool escape from the afternoon sun.

The last shrine I visited was Tayuin-byo (大猷院廟). Ieyasu's grandson, Iemitsu, is enshrined in this smaller version of Toshogu. Apparently some people think this one is more aesthetically pleasing because it's less extravagant.

I saw this photo about four years ago at school during a Year 10 Media Studies class, and immediately knew I wanted to see it for real. I didn't know where it was though, and I'm so pleased I turned around after climbing the stairs to Taiyuin-byo.

This sounds really lame but I could actually imagine spies making their silent way down this wall, heading towards the treasure inside the shrine.

I left the shrine and temple area to go and find the Ganman-ga-Fuchi Abyss (含滿淵). Here there is a collection of jizou statues (Buddhist statues depicting the protector of small children and travellers).

I walked down another wonderfully green quiet road, and found a waterfall pouring over the side of the hill. Nikko is so pretty!

This road brought me back out by the Shin-kyo bridge. I followed the directions in my guidebook. From Nikko (the town), turn left by this bridge and follow the Daiya river for quite a long way until you reach another bridge. The guidebook said the other bridge was 800m from Shin-kyo, but I'm sure it was much longer than that. After crossing the second bridge, there's a car park on the left, and a power station in front of you. Turn right along the road and you'll see a cafe near a park after a little while. Ganman-ga-Fuchi is on the other side of the park.
The route along the river was lovely. I was very lucky with the weather.

Along the way, a man from somewhere in central Europe asked me how to get back to the town. I pointed him in the right direction.

Here's the start of the long line of jizou statues. They are said to be uncountable, and one in the middle of the line is called the bake-jizou, and he mocks people foolish enough to try to count them. I made it 81, or 82...

The river was really rough towards the end of the trail, which takes about ten or fifteen minutes in total. Apparently it's not usually crowded, even in the busy times, so it might make a nice escape from other humans.

The walk back to the station, along the river, and through the town seemed much shorter than the first time, but I'd done so much walking that my legs were really aching (and they continued to ache for two days afterwards - why!?).

Once I was back at Tobu Nikko station, I bought my reserved ticket for the train back to Asakusa. I got back on the local train, to take me to Shimo-Imaichi, to change for the express, and the same man who asked me for directions got on, and checked with me if this was the train he wanted. Did I look like some kind of Nikko expert?

I got home at about 7pm, and I was very very tired!

There is another part of Nikko you can visit if you have a really full day, or two days there. This is the Chuuzenji-ko Lake (中禅寺湖) area. The guidebook said that it's worth visiting, but not worth cutting short a day in Nikko for, so I didn't try to go there. It takes 50 minutes by bus. There is a 97-metre high waterfall, and you can take an elevator through the cliff to the bottom to see it properly. This costs Y530. You can take boat rides on the lake, hike through the forests surrounding the area, and head up to plateaus to see the views. If I had had more time, I definitely would have gone there too.

You can buy a variety of different passes that include the journey from Tokyo, and then local transport as well, similar to the Hakone Free Pass I used. All the information on types and prices is here.