Nikko

Hello everyone,

Today we did a day trip to Nikkō, 150km north of Tokyo. It is our last day/night staying in Tokyo, but we have five more days at the end of the trip back in Tokyo too.

The Nikko mountains were founded by a priest, and the area was originally known as holy ground for mountain worshippers. In the 1600s the shrines and temples the area was declared UNESCO World Heritage famous for were built, and in the late 1800s the first hotels and resorts were built. The area then became more and more popular with foreign visitors after the Meiji Restoration (a revolution in Japan that restored imperial rule). A couple of famous names that visited during this time included Ulysses S Grant and Franz Ferdinand.

Our train was a fast train that’s only been operating for a year, the Spacia X. It was very spacious and comfortable, and even had a cafe where Mum and Dad bought some treats. The trip took about two hours overall and we enjoyed scenery of lush green fields and some mountains along the way. As we pulled into Nikko Station, all the platform attendants were bowing to the train. We used our Nikko Pass for the train tickets, and then again on the local bus to take us to the World Heritage Area once we arrived. Our first stop was the Shinkyō Bridge, which was very picturesque amongst the lush green scenery and mountains in the background. It acted as an entrance to the temple area and was built in 1636, however, earlier versions of the bridge were here prior to this.

We then boarded the bus again and took it uphill towards the various temples and shrines Nikko is famous for. We first visited Futarasan Shrine which had some nice buildings and a lovely garden feel, and then visited the Iyemetsu (Third Shogun’s) Mausoleum. We’ve been really surprised so far with how much Japan doesn’t meet its international reputation. There was barely any English available at the two shrines so the context of what we were looking at was sort of lost on us. And we’ve found only about half of the people we’ve come across so far speak English, with even many of those working at Disneyland not speaking English which was a big surprise. Most things are paid for with cash (eg you can’t top up your travel card unless you have cash, and many restaurants are cash only), so the “future forward” perception I’ve always had in mind doesn’t really match either. However, we are having a wonderful time and enjoyed looking at the buildings and surrounding nature anyway.

We walked along a forested path with huge tall trees and ended up at the Toshogu Shrine Nikko is most famous for. But it was 5x the price of the other two we had entered, we could see it a little from the outside, and we were a bit shrined out by that point in the heat! So instead we walked to the Kanaya Samurai House/Historic Hotel. En route we had a quick lunch from Lawson, a convenience store. We loved visiting the house as it had a lot of character and a beautiful garden, with the only downside being the uncomfortable slippers we had to wear after removing our shoes. Our sore Disneyland feet weren’t impressed, particularly Dad’s as his heel hung off the end by about 5cm! Regardless, we enjoyed watching a video about the house and reading some history too. The house was built in the late Edo period to house samurai warriors. The warriors were stationed in the area due to the completion of the Togeshu Shrine in 1617 to protect the gravesites of the two great shoguns, leyasu and lemitsu, buried within. In 1800, the Kanaya family inherited the residence, and in 1870 the then owner, Zenichiro Kanaya had a famous American named James Hepburn to stay. He encouraged Zenichiro to open the house as a cottage, and it became Japan’s first “resort” in 1873. American travel writer Isabella Bird stayed for 12 days in 1878, and wrote favourable reviews which encouraged more and more foreign visitors and subsequently other hotels began to open in the area. In 1893, Zenichiro opened a bigger hotel slightly uphill from the Shinkyo Bridge. The house then returned to being used as a house, except for an army occupation from 1945-1952. Today it has been restored and is a museum. We enjoyed exploring the rooms and gorgeous garden views that the house would have afforded guests. The garden was beautiful too.

Afterwards, we walked back down towards the river and returned to the Shinkyo Bridge. We saw the newer Kanaya Hotel we had just read about up the hill. Finally, we all caught the bus back to the station and then the train back to Tokyo. Dad enjoyed a fried bean snack at the station that was surprisingly nice!

We had dinner in Asakusa at a cute little Katsu restaurant, where we had pork katsu (a crispy fried pork cutlet). We shared two different varieties. The lady running the place was so beautiful, and she told us her Dad had started it 50 years ago, but she took it over and he died four years ago.

We are packing up tonight as we are off to Hakone (down towards Mt Fuji) for two days tomorrow.

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox