Day Eighty One: Adventures in Nikko

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I was all cashed up from an influx of private lessons and didn't have to be back at work till Tuesday, so I packed up a bag, hopped on a train and transported myself out of Tokyo to the beautiful country town of Nikko.
The day before I'd searched online and booked myself into the most promising hostel I could find, Nikko Park Lodge. I wasn't disappointed. The hostel is a gorgeous little place in the woods, run by monks, offering morning yoga, vegetarian cuisine and a sign in the lobby offering free hugs to anyone in the need for a little bit of love.

I dumped my bags, picked up a map and wandered over the little dirt pathways, down the highway and over the streams till I made my way to the most sought after tourist site in Nikko, the mausoleums of the Tokugawa Shoguns, part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The first temple on my list was Rinnō-ji Temple, home to the giant golden buddhas, and what would turn out to be my favourite of the day. I spent the next few hours, checking out Tōshōgū (The burial place of dynasty founder Tokugawa Ieyasu and location of the infamous 3 wise monkeys), Yakushi-dō Hall (The Hall of the Medicine Buddha, known for a dragon painting on the ceiling) , Yomei-mon Gate, Ieyasu's tomb (famous for the small carving at the entrance of nemuri-neko the sleeping cat) and Futarasan Shrine (Futarasan-jinja - The shrine dedicated to the spirits of Nikko's three holy mountains Mt. Nantai, Mt. Nyoho and Mt. Taro).

Leaving the heritage shrines behind me, I crossed over the road and got snap happy at Shinkyō, The much-photographed red bridge separates the shrines from the town of Nikko. In the old days, only the shogun were permitted to cross the bridge, and still today if you want to cross you need to pay additional fees, not many people do though, I'm not sure if it's out of respect for the Shoguns or if most people don't see the point considering its easier to photograph a bridge if you're not standing on it.

I got back to the hostel late afternoon and spent the evening devouring vegetarian curry, Nikko Beer and comparing notes with the other backpackers staying at the hostel, my favourite girl at the hostel was my roommate, the unfortunately named Ines (rhymes with...) and we spent the whole evening lounging on beanbags giggling about getting restaurant slippers confused with toilet slippers and so on.

I caught a ride into town the next morning and squeezed myself onto a bus headed into Nikko National Park to visit Lake Chezenji and Kegon Falls, the highest waterfall in Japan. The bus was full of old Japanese people nattering away excitedly and snacking like they hadn't eaten in months. The scenery outside the bus was breathtaking as we wove our way through the mountains, but to the old Japanese ladies I was clearly so much more interesting. They pointed at me, giggled and waved a lot, and then after commenting on my bright red sunglasses passed them around the overpacked bus with every old lady trying them on and striking vogue type poses for their friends.

Waving my new friends goodbye I jumped off the bus at Kegon Falls and spent a few hours wandering around, tiring myself out before jumping back on the bus back to town and accidentally catching the local train back to Shinjuku which arrived 4o minutes later than the express train which left 30 minutes after the local train. Damn. Well, at least I was asleep for most of the ride.

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Photos

Shinkyō (神橋)
Bridge separating the UNESCO shrines from Nikko town