We had a day trip to Nikko pencilled in as a possibility from Tokyo. With just one day to go, feeling stuffed from walking to the ends of the earth and back, a number of hours sitting on a train appealed a great deal.
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| Train station escalator |
After a quick 2km walk to the Ueno train station, a route we had trod a number of times, we jumped on a bullet train for a 50 minute trip, followed by 50 minutes on a local train, arriving in Nikko around lunchtime. We didn't want to get caught short with nothing for lunch so picked up a couple of bento boxes before trekking uphill to the famed temple complex. We'd read that these temples were pretty good, and situated in a lovely setting, but we had no idea what we were in for. In fact, we consider it one of the best temple complexes we have ever seen, right up there with Angkor Wat and Borobudur.
It was built by the son of the Tokugawa Emperor who basically brought together all the warring clans and daimyos of Japan in 1605. It led to over 200 years of peace, with the Tokugawa dynasty reigning supreme during that time. The capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo, now Tokyo. When the founding emperor died, his son organised 50,000 workmen to labour for two years to build this complex to honour his father.
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| Approach bridge, famous in itself |
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| The setting is lovely |
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| Dragon water bowl on the way in |
It is truly stunning. With no expense spared, the level of detail, colour, sculpture and everything else artistic related to the complex is jaw-dropping. Unfortunately our camera was totally kaput by this time and we could only take photos with our phones, therefore couldn't get the best close-up shots.
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| Gatekeeper |
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| Sake barrels - the monks must be sozzled! |
The experience was topped off with climbing the granite stairs up to the tomb, where Iyesai Tokugawa was laid to rest. The tomb has not been opened since that time in the 1600s.
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| The original Tokugawa emperor's elegant tomb |
It was well worth the trip out of Tokyo, and we'd certainly recommend it to anyone. However, the wind was biting cold and we hot-footed it back down to the train station to catch the two-train ride back to Tokyo. We didn't really feel like going out again after arriving home late in the afternoon so finished off some 2 minute noodles, snacks and even muesli for dinner. It felt good to be packing our bags ready for departure the next day.
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| Massive escalators at Tokyo Station |
I think we were both ready to leave. It always happens, no matter how long you have been away. The last few days always seem to come down to a countdown, and we start looking forward to home. We've loved Japan, and feel as though we've had a pretty good look at parts of it. It was lovely being back amongst the hills and mountains again at Nikko today. One of the highlights of the trip for me has certainly been being in the remote areas, especially trekking in the hills and coming across expansive views of the countryside.
