Where is a good place with rich historicaly, beautiful scenery, and within a day trip from Tokyo? That would be the TohShou-Gu temples in the city of Nikko. There are 2 famous temples and a shrine in the city, which are designated as World Heritage of UNESCO in 1999. This was the 10th registrations from Japan, as "a reflection of architectural and artistic genius; this aspect is reinforced by the harmonious integration of the buildings in a forest and a natural site laid out by man" as described in the Nikko's page in UNESCO site. It took me only 2 hours and 15 minutes from Asakusa, Tokyo, using an express train of Tobu-Nikkou railline. Well, I was a bit lazy; I arrived at Nikko just after 12 o'clock. It was November 22, 2001, when most of the mess and craziness of fall colors had been almostly over.

(above) Gorgous. Fabulous. Magnificent... Looking up the Yohmei-Mon. (right) a lion statue made of stone. The lion and the fence are all made from a single stone.

Nikko TohShou-Gu
As Japanese old saying goes, "do not say fabulous until seeing Nikko". This is definitely about the structures and buildings in Tohshou-Gu of Nikko. I found the Tohshou-Gu's grounds were a lot smaller than I imagined; only 200m wide and 300m deep (700x1000 ft). But this small area has packed the gorgeous and magnificent structures. Every building has given as much decorations as possible using the best techniques at the time. The Yohmei-Gate is known as "Sunset Gate" because one need all day to see all the statue.

Nemuri-Neko (Sleeping Cat) is one of the famous carvings by the best sculpture artist in the Edo period. It was on the wall of the dark corridor; I could not see it well. Not even think about taking a photo. Honestly, I was not sure why people talk about it. The description made everything clear. There is a carving of Sparrows behind the wall of the Sleeping Cat. The cat is sleeping not thinking about catching the sparrows. The sparrows are also having fun without worrying about threat. The whole carvings symbolize the peace, which finally came after long civil war period.

Two-hundred-and-7 steps of stone stairs would lead to the hidden-temples where Tokugawa Ieyas sleeps. All of the steps are made from a single stone. This must be the luxury I would never notice. Next, was the main main-shrine of TohShou-Gu, where only the feudal lords could enter during the Edo period. Well, there was another room in the main-shrine, where only the top 3 feudal lords could enter. Now anybody can walk into the room and see it for about 5 minutes. The monks were busy selling a good-luck amulet to tourists. The last attraction was the Yakushi-Doh where famous Naki-Ryu (Weeping Dragon) sits. There was a big drawing of Dragon on the ceiling. A big handclap would cause the Dragon Weep (or "roars").

It took about 2 hours to see all of the buildings in Tohshou-Gu. It was a place packed with gorgeous and fabulous buildings and structures, yet it also give a sacred and peacefulness. It must be the big redwood trees surrounding the temple. This place is definitely a holy place. Also, this is a temple craving for a peace. In every detail, I could see a will to keep the peace in Japan after the civil war period. Tokugawa Ieyasu must have been really tired of fighting.

Nikko Futara-San Shrine
Futara-San Shrine stands just next to the TohShou-Gu, is the place where the name "Nikko" came from. It was created in the year of 790, and the shintai is the Nanta-San mountain. It is a lot older than Tohshou-Gu.

Rin-ou-Ji Dai-Yuh-In
There were two foreigners walking in front of me. But the time was already past 4 o'clock, and the gate was already closed. Another foreigner came out from the gate of the Rin-ou-Ji Dai-Yuh-In, and said "Boy, I've never seen so many beautiful stuff packed in one place!". OK, I'll come here again.

In later day, I did visit the Rin-ou-Ji Dai-Yuh-In.

History of Nikko
Tokugawa Ieyasu united Japan in 1616, ending the long and exhastive civil war of Japan. He had founded a new Samurai's government at Edo (former Tokyo). When he died, he left a will to en-shrine himself as a god in Nikko, where he would protect Japan from evil and place peace. The 3rd Shogun, Iemitsu, enhanced the buildings of Tohshou-Gu in 1636, using the best craftsmanship at the time.

Food
There was a small restaurant infront of the station of Tobu-Nikko railline. Yuba was the famous food from Nikko, which is a by-product of Tofu. I had Yuba as sashimi, which was pretty good. Yuba, actually, is a famous food in Kyoto. My guess is, a lot of craftsmen came from Kyoto to Nikko together with Yuba.

(right) people knot the white oracles to a maple tree.

Nikko and ChuzenJi-Lake
I headed to Nikko again, on December 19, 2001, when the winter started cover Nikko. This time, I was driving a car to see places outside of the city of Nikko.

No one was at the ChuzenJi-Lake in winter. A small snowflakes were falling from the sky; the mountain over the lake were in snow.

This is the Kegon-Fall. There said to be 12 small falls surrounding the main fall.

Sloep of I-Ro-Ha
There is a slope with many curves on the way to ChuzenJi-Lake. Someone has counted that there are 48 curves; and named each curve as "I (eeh)", "Ro", "Ha"... a famous poem of Japan, which uses all the syllabs exactly once each. This is one of the most famous spot for watching fall colors in Japan. There are long ques of cars during the autumn, but I saw no other car this morning. Along the way, I came across with "Akechi-Daira" which is also famous for a wonderful view. I heard I could have see the ChuzenJi-Lake, the Kegon-Fall, and everything. But all were closed... I have to use my imagination.

ChuzenJi-Lake
It is a lake made from the volcanic activities dammed a stream. It is about 6.5km in length and 1.8km wide (about 5x1 miles) in size. It is another famous spot for fall colors and greens in spring time. But the winter view was also nice. One thing; many of the services were closed during the winter. And I was afraid of driving on snow; I decided to go back to Nikko without seeing much.

Kegon-Fall
This is one of the three famous falls of Japan. The water of the ChuzenJi-Lake drops about 97m (300 ft) to the bottom. But it cost 500 Yen to get to the bottom of the fall via an elevator. The 100m elevator is quite a height, so is the price.

Kirifuri-Fall
There is a Kirifuri-Plateau only 30 minutes drive from Nikko. They say, flowers during the spring time is famous. This time, I decided just to see the Kirifuri-Fall nearby. A pleasant 340m (1000ft) walk lead to a viewpoint. The fall was an exquisite one. But It was located in quite a distance. There was a trail to the bottom of the fall but was closed during the winter. I had to think twice coming during the winter...

Dai-Yuh-In is located at the bottom of Nikko; This temple enshrines the 3rd Shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, who build the Tohshou-Gu. This temple is certainly smaller but it is almost as gorgeous as Tohshou-Gu. The canyon wall on the both side came close. It was absolutely quiet during December inside the temple, which is surrounded by redwood forest. In the main-shrine, there were no tourist but me. I definitely would recommend to visit Dai-Yuh-In after TohShou-Gu.

Gates of Dai-Yuh-In

(far left)Yasha-Gate

(left) Kara-Gate close up.

(below) Panoramic view of Yasha-Gate

Historic Trail
A trail starts from Dai-Yu-In to Takino-o-shrine, then ends at Tohshou-Gu. This was not particularly a trail with fantastic view, but it meandered through a nice redwood forest. Along the way, there were numbers of interesting old Japanese religous style to see. For instance, there was a small hatch which shrine Enno Buddhist Monk, who was outlawed. Takino-o-shrine was sitting next to a small waterfall, which had 8 different small shrines. One of them was a shrine of a small pond, that was said to improve the taste of Sake. To me, it was bit like a twilight-zone walk in the city of Nikko.

Nikko Redwood Highway
It was in Edo period, the feudal lord started plant redwood trees along the highway to Nikko from Edo. Today, there are still 37 km (25 miles) of them are left. It is said to be the world longest highway that have redwood trees planted on both side. So, some of them would be about 370 years old, 30~40m high, and more than 2m in diameter, and there are 13,000 of them (according to my guidebook). I drove through one of the highway. The National Highway 352 was an asphalt paved road that passes through the redwood for more than 10km. That was quite awesome, I would say. But I also started to worry about air pollutions from cars. They say 100 trees dies every year.

Misc. Information etc.

Tohshou-Gu and Dai-Yuh-In
Both temples represents the city of Nikko. And both of them were fantastic. Dai-Yuh-In stands on the western side of the canyon, and heading east. Therefore, I can imagine it would be a beautiful place in the morning under the morning light. On the otherhand, the Tohshou-Gu is heading west; hence it was shining under sunset light. For photographers, my guess would be to visit Dai-Yuh-In in the morning, and Tohshou-Gu in the afternoon.

Japan's Best 3 Falls
An old selection of 3 best falls of Japan: Nachi-Fall, Fukuroda-Fall, and Kegon-Fall.

Nikko's Best 3 Falls
An old selection of 3 best falls in Nikko, where there are more than 40 falls: Kegon-Fall, Kirifuri-Fall, and Urami-Fall.

Nikko Tourist Association Official Page (http://www.nikko-jp.org/)
A lot of information about Nikko. It has a lot of useful information. Howerver, I found it difficult to use the menu; it was easier to find it using Google. And it is written in Japanese only.