I have wanted to go to Nikko, Japan ever since I read about it in my traveler's guide.
Some descriptions:
Nikko is a town at the entrance to Nikko National Park, most famous for Toshogu, Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine and the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.
Nikko had been a center of Shinto and Buddhist
mountain worship for many centuries before Toshogu was built in the
1600s, and Nikko National Park continues to offer scenic, mountainous
landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys and hiking trails.
Nikko and the Okunikko area around Lake Chuzenji, in particular, are well known for their beautiful autumn colors (koyo). In the average year the colors start descending from the higher elevations of Yumoto Onsen in early October, are best around Lake Chuzenji and the Irohazaka road in mid to late October and reach the town of Nikko in the first half of November.
Nikkō (日光市 Nikkō-shi, literally "sunlight" or "sunshine") is a city in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Approximately 140 km north of Tokyo and 35 km west of Utsunomiya, the capital of Tochigi Prefecture, it is a popular destination for Japanese and international tourists. Attractions include the mausoleum of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (Nikkō Tōshō-gū) and that of his grandson Iemitsu (Iemitsu-byō Taiyū-in), and the Futarasan Shrine, which dates to the year 767. There are also many famous hot springs (onsen) in the area. Elevations range from 200 to 2,000 m. The mountains west of the main city are part of Nikkō National Park and contain some of the country's most spectacular waterfalls and scenic trails.
The Japanese saying "Never say 'kekko' until you've seen Nikko", kekko meaning beautiful, magnificent or I am satisfied is a reflection of the beauty and sites in Nikkō.
It really does live up to the name. Sunlight. :D So, I'm tired of waiting for all this time off. I just have to get sight seeing and taking trips whenever I can. I saw a 3 day weekend and went ahead and booked a hotel room. They only had one room left, the only "western" room there. The other ones were tatami floors with futons. I really wanted a tatami room, but alas. Next time.
I didn't realize when I booked it that it was the end of "golden week", which is a big time for vacationing and holidays for the Japanese. They have 3 big holidays all together and take a week off to enjoy it.
I got off work Friday morning, we packed up the car and hit the road. It's a lot different to road trip here. There are tolls EVERYWHERE and it can add up, but it's worth it to get out and explore. Traffic can be busy too, but that's not all that different than some areas in the states when I've traveled. We did hit some major traffic along the way, but Cameron was pretty relaxed about it and we knew we would eventually make it.
We checked into our hotel and the owners spoke english! She gave us a map of the area and told us there was a close walking trail right near the hotel. We decided that was our first stop!
We found that the whole area has streams and rivers running through it. Many men would be out fly fishing. Cameron used to fly fish, so it made him want to get back into it! It looks very peaceful.
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| Making Cameron show off his sugar skull belt buckle ;) |
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| Not sure if this was a hotel or personal house or what, but it's beautiful. I LOVE Japanese homes. sigh. |
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| Constructed in 1636! My brain just can't fathom. |
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| Living up to the name. Sunlight. The sunsets in this area were breathtaking. |
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| Walking back to our hotel one evening. We would just stop and breathe in the fresh air. Love the little birdie. |
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| Cam was showing me on this trip how to get slow shutter speeds to capture the flowing water photos. |
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| I <3 pagodas! |
There are so many shrines and temples in Nikko. There are two mausoleums there for instrumental shogun men.
They were pretty busy with people because of Golden Week. It was still a beautiful sight to see.
We also visited one of the imperial villas. Every room I was taken aback by its beauty.
Tamozawa Imperial Villa blends Edo and Meiji Period architecture throughout its 106 rooms. The villa was erected in Nikko in 1899, using parts of a residence that originally stood in Tokyo.
Before being moved to Nikko,
the building served initially as the Tokyo residence of a branch of the
Tokugawa family and was later temporarily used as the Imperial Palace.
In Nikko, it was enlarged into a summer residence and retreat for the Imperial Family,
but suffered neglect after World War II. In the year 2000, the villa
was opened to the public after extensive renovation works.
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| taken from inside the imperial villa |
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| One of the interior gardens. all those windows open up. |
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| Japanese design makes everything SO open. You basically open up doors and windows to the outside. |
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| I'll take this room! |
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| OR this one. . . |
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| There were several air raid openings out in the garden. I wonder how many times people had to run into them for fear of their life. |
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| From the outside |
We went on a 2 mile walk up to one of the many falls in the area. Thankfully, it was on a main road.
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| The road less taken. haha |
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| Then, when we thought we made it, there were stairs! sheesh. haha |
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| Jakko Falls. Jakko Falls was named after Jakkoji temple which built in 820 by Priest Kukai.
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We waited Saturday night to try and eat at this really awesome place, so while we were waiting we went and got Chu Hais and walked around a neighborhood. We found this parking area by some water way area with perfect backgrounds for photos! I started playing around with different lenses and make a portrait shoot of Cameron. haha. I was having a blast!
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| So happy Japan doesn't have an open container law! haha |
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| This man went out fishing with his corgi. it was so cute. |
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| Work it. Work it. |
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| He's so cute. |
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| I got lucky with some nice sun coming in! |
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| The Little Yakitori Bar that we ate at. Sadly, they didn't open Sat night. :( They had good vegetarian food! |
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| Walking home that night. Perfect sunset. Again. |
On our way out of town , we went by a nearby lake to check out one of the big falls in Nikko. The lake has swan paddle boats and all kinds of fun activities. We'll have to come back for summertime!
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| On our way out of town we went to Kegon Falls. This one was much more of a tourist spot compared to Jakko Falls |
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| It was pretty awesome, but I think we liked Jakko Falls better. Plus, it was free. haha |
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| The road to get to the lake. Yeah. I'm glad I ate my ginger tabs. Cameron was in heaven! |
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| The road back! SOOO sketchy. haha. Again, Cameron loved the road with the quick and steep hair pin turns. |
Gotta go back in the summer and then in the fall. They have some of the best scenes in the fall with the leaves changing. :D
I also learned a new phrase for when we check out of a hotel!
Totemo ii tokoro deshita, arigatou!
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