Travelling to Nikko might come off as a little intimidating for some people. From Tokyo, depending on which train you take, it will take about 2.3 hours to get there. This does not include the time you will spend in a place called Utsunomiya, which is the main switch station. When I arrived there, a nice old man was standing on the platform, happily handing out pamphlets in English / Japanese telling you which gate to go to for the various locations. Ours was Track 5.
Utsunomiya is about 45 minutes from Nikko, to the Southeast. The travel was scenic, and believe me, you know you are in the country when you are making this trip to Nikko.
Nikko itself is located in the Tochigi Province. It rests along the Daiya River. When my son and I first arrived, we had the choice of waiting for the bus that heads west up the hill towards the Tokugawa Shrine and the Shinkyo Bridge.
We decided to walk... in the rain... with luggage. This was my fault, and I happily admit it. I grossly underestimated the distance from the station to the Shinkyo Bridge, which was less than half a mile from the place we were staying in. A truly lovely place called the Turtle Inn. If you want to actually cross over the bridge, you will pay a small fee. About 300 Yen (3 USD) per person. For extra, you can dress up. Due to the fact that it was raining, we decided not to walk over the bridge, but stood nearby and snapped off about 40 photos, one of which you obviously can see in this blod posting.
A note about this place. First off; its lovely. It is family run and they are extremely friendly and nice. The service they provide is quite good, and the prices are reasonable. The breakfast was a little on the pricey side, but that can easily be overlooked because it IS a family run business, and the value of the rooms (and their size) more than make up for it. Just keep in mind that the rooms are traditional once. Lose the shoes when you first enter them, because the flooring is covered with the traditional tatami mats! My son and I stayed in the August Room, which had a pair of beds. If you've never slept on tatami and a thin mattress before, they do take a bit getting used to.
I don't need to plug the Turtle Inn, because the place will speak for itself if you stay there. Its literally on a back road, but one that is next to the Daiya River. Every morning when my son and I walked out the door to visit someplace, we would walk down the road, along the river and listen to it. The views are something to behold. The mists in the morning that are moving over the trees on the hill to the south... breathtaking.
There are other hotels in the area, sure. But if you're just in Nikko to take in the sites, don't waste your money for a 200$ per night room, when you can get one for 70$ a night and the only inconvenience to you is that you have to walk half a mile through some seriously beautiful terrain.
That said, it rained both days we were in Nikko, and it made my son miserable. However, I found the low hanging clouds and rain somehow made the place look more beautiful to me. I don't know why, but it just gave the place a visually appealing look.
We (son and I) travelled here for two things. First was to see the Shrine of the first Tokugawa Shoguns... and let me tell you... Walking through that shrine was worth the price of the plane ticket to Japan alone. To call this Shrine lovely, or beautiful, or fantastic... would not do it justice. It's more than beautiful or exquisite... its an experience. I think my jaw dragged on the gravel for the five hours that I was there, walking around and looking at things. You just can't believe what you're looking at with your own eyes. The Nikko Tosho-gu… the Yomeimon, the Kitano Shrine. All of these will make your jaw drop. I've never seen such detail in a shrine as I did in these... and I saw a lot of Shrines in Tokyo, but this one... just... wow.
There is so much to see in this shrine. None of the 200+ photos I took would do it justice. While walking around in the mists of the mountain, and enjoying the sights, we also came across a truly beautiful site. While we were there, someone was getting married in a traditional Shinto ritual. Obviously, since we were not invited, we kept our distance, as did others who were mulling around, but you could see the wedding taking place in one of the shrines, and the Shinto Priests in their black and white outfits were present. If it wasn't for the fact that many of the guests were dressed in suits, you would have thought you were in the 17th century!
Now, I want to add a measure of caution for those of you who would visit this shrine. There is not a lot in the way of handicapped assistance here, and you are in the mountains. Most of the pathways are gravel, and there are more stairs here than in some Chicago skyscrapers... ok, that's an embellishment, but it sure felt like it!
If you wish to go through all the climbing to see the actual shrine of Tokugawa, you are in for a treat. For people like me, it was totally worth the 200+ steps up into the thick of the forest. For others, perhaps not so much. In this thing I cannot advise, only that for history buffs and shrine lovers, it is worth the climb. If you are neither, you might want to enjoy the main shrine area instead. I have attached an image of what would await you if you climbed all those stairs. The second to last image (the one that looks like a bell), is the actual burial spot of the First of the Tokugawa Shoguns... someone who wasn't well known in the West until that book Shogun came out in 1975.
Nikko itself is a beautiful little town. Like most smaller towns, you will find that stores begin closing in the evening. Unlike cities like Tokyo, or Kyoto, which have vibrant nightlife's, Nikko is slower paced, and more for the person who wants to be a little closer to nature than the hubbub of metro-life. One thing that I did like in particular with Nikko was its Ramen. Yes... I sampled Ramen in every city I visited. Nikko's came in at a strong #3.
In Nikko, this was the first time that I came across a Ramen with whole corn in it. I'm sure it was elsewhere, but this was the first time I'd seen it, and oh man was it good. The bowl you are looking at in the picture cost about 6.80$ USD (680 Yen). It filled me up quite nicely. The place was called Uotami, and it is right off the main road. This Nikko-kaido (119). Very nice place, good menu, and good prices. I think you might even be able to find this place on Google Maps (haven't checked yet as of this writing, but I will later).
In all, Nikko is a stunningly beautiful town nestled up in the mountains. It is the perfect place to go if you are looking to get away from the big cities, but don't want to go to, say, a farm. Its more like a nice suburb, but more rural than metro. While getting to Nikko may seem challenging or not worth the effort, I would heartily disagree. Its beautiful, magical. If you are a Shrine lover, then this would be your Mecca.
This featured blog entry was written by tmulcahey from the blog Japan 2019.
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