Temples, Forests and Streams - Nikko
I spent a day and a half in Nikko October 28 and 29th. It is a village of 95,000 people north of Tokyo. To get here I took the bullet train from Ueon Station in Tokyo to Utsunomiya Station. There I switched to a local train line called the Nikko Line. In all it took about an hour and forty minutes of travel time.
Nikko is situated in a valley with a river called the Daiya-gawa running through it. It really is a rushing stream. In fact, every where in Nikko you here rushing water. Whether it is the Daiya itself or the numerous other streams that are all rushing rapidly down to meet the Daiya. Most streets have narrow stone culverts on either side and you can see the rushing water (or hear it when they are covered). It is a nice sound that drowns out other man-made ones.
Forests. The valley that Nikko is built in has some fantastic forests. The trees are immense. They look like cedars to me based on the stringy bark. One thing for sure is that they are in fact big. Many of them would take four adults with outstretched arms to surround the bases of their trunks. Some even more. There is thick, bright green moss on the these trees and on whatever has been around over the centuries. The trees are tall and the sunlight doesn't make it all the way through to the forest floor. It really is a magical place.
On top of being magical it is historical. Nikko's temples and shrines were, in 1999, given World Heritage status because "The Nikko shrines and temples are 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." You got that right United Nations. The temples and shrines that make up the actual heritage sites are fantastic sites to see and are reflective of the architecture during the Tokugawa era of Japanese history (1603 to 1868). The trademark hollyhock mon (crest or coat of arms) is found on bells, lanterns, roof tiles, door handles.
Be ready for walking up a lot of steps. A ticket to see all of this is 1300 yen and is good for two days though once you have entered one of the temples and shrines you can't re-enter it. Be ready also for a lot of people. Get there early (opens at 8am) to avoid the daytrippers from Tokyo and the numerous school field trip groups!!
Now, the best part of Nikko for me was the Takinoo Trail. I stumbled upon it by accident on my first day. I saw this path between the Futara-san Shrine and the Taiyuin-byo. I wanted to escape the crowds so I started walking up the stone path and after about 5 or 10 minutes I was in this amazing forest. It was silent. I mean silent. Not only no humans, but no rushing water sound, no birds or crickets. It was just amazing. I could hear my breathing and my footsteps - nothing more. The trees towered above me. Walking up the hill I stumbled upon a small shrine guarded by a monkey statue. I continued down the hill and came to a fork. Since I was getting deeper into the forest I turned around as the sun was setting. I returned the next day and that is when I discovered it is called the Takinoo Trail. Just amazing. While it is not completely isolated (it runs parallel to a road a bit further out) it provides a nice break from the Heritage Sites. It took me about two hours at a slow pace to see it. I highly recommend this.
Another walk worth doing is the shorter Gan-Manga-Fuchi walk on the south side of the river. Again...a walk through the woods with Buddha statues that are dressed in knit red toques, red aprons and moss.
I'd love to come back to Nikko one day and hike in the Nikko National Park to experience more of this.
Comments
The little statues we called OJIZOSAN. It is protecting babies and kids( alive Or dead both). Red apron is usually made from mom's cloths . The OJIZOSAN try to stop their crying. Then mom's smell really works. Japanese believe If people die we have to cross over the river but this river has ogre. When babies dead they stay on the river bank and ogre scares them . They cries a lot but OJIZOSAN protect them from ogre. when mom dead and come to this river babies can find own mom from smell of red apron etc.....
Actually red apron has many means.