Friday’s Footprints – Nikko, Japan (Part One)

During our last trip to Japan we travelled up not so far from Tokyo to explore the famous shrines at Nikko.

We spent three days there and could easily have spent a lot longer. Even though I had lived in Japan for a number of years previously, this was one delight I had missed out on until our last trip.

We stayed in an awesome little guest house – The Nikkorisou Backpackers – which was located at the top of the town near the famous Shinkyo Bridge and an easy walk to all the shrines

The manager, Hiro, was such a great guy. Since we were the only guests at that time, he spent an afternoon driving us up around the mountains to see the sights!

He is also a fabulous artist, and some of his work decorated this cool and quirky guest house

More on our time with Hiro in another post.

It completely poured on our first day in Nikko – but it really didn’t take away from the splendour of the area

Mostly on our first day we wandered a bit aimlessly to get a feel for the area (a bit of a damp feel, but it was still an adventure)

We hit the right time for the superb autumn colours (indeed that whole trip we seemed to follow the prime viewing times)

The rain was intense the first day (we felt right at home really! 🙂 ) The rain chains off the shrines were working overtime.

 

The next day dawned unbelievably differently from the first (yup! right at home with that changing weather thing)

We got up fairly early to go up and see the main shrines & avoid the crowds

The shrines are rich with details and carvings

There are some famous carvings here, like the three wise monkeys and the sleeping cat

Toshogu Shrine is the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868.

The lavishly decorated shrine complex consists of more than a dozen buildings set in a beautiful forest. Countless wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaf were used to decorate the buildings in a way not seen elsewhere in Japan, where simplicity has been traditionally stressed in shrines.

The eternal guardians – scary looking fellows

And then you run across some cuteness!

There is a short walk up the hillside through the forest to the actual tomb of Ieyasu.

Back down the mountain, to the beautiful Shinkyo Bridge

And at the end of the day, nothing like a good soak in the traditional little tub at the backpackers! Bliss

There is a lot more to this area – but will save for another day.

Hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into a stunningly beautiful area. If you get to Japan – do NOT miss this!

Cheers!