Nikko's Protector

Last day trip out of the city today as we headed off to the town (and World Heritage Site) of Nikko. First the Sendai bound Shinkansen to Utsunomiya, the change to the local JR Nikko line for the single track ride up into the hills. It's over 120km just to Utsunomiya, so being able to just jump on a fast train at Tokyo Station to get there asked the trip a lot easier. While Nikko is just another 30km further, it takes pretty much the same time to get up on the local train.

It was a great opportunity to take in the more countryside setting of this area. A big difference from Tokyo, much different from the trip to Kamakura where it seemed tha you were just travelling through one massive built up area. There were plenty of smaller villages to pass through, bonafide farmland and rice fields, then in to the tall forests of the hills.

Up in Nikko it is a world away from the city. Certainly while we were there, it was quiet and had the air of a ski resort out of season. So off we set further up the hillside to the shrine/temple area that is Nikko National Park. Here we saw the rather particular style of Toshogu - a distinctly lavish shrine totally different to any other we have come across so far. When we rounded the corner at the entrance we really couldn't believe our eyes. And with the low sun we had today, all the gold accents and gilt edged carvings were catching the dappled light perfectly, really sparkling in the forest. It was quite a sight.

I reckon we were pretty lucky to have the place so quiet, true it wasn't a great day (in the sun it was warm, but mostly it was cold, and the shivering started pretty quickly when the sun started setting) but we only had a handful of other folk and a couple of tour parties to contend with. Even more lucky for us was that the coach tours didn't seem to be visiting some of the further out temples and shrines, leaving us to wander in peace.

The cold did push us to a low moment of the trip however, when our hands were just too cold we caved and hit up a nearby vending machine (they really are everywhere) for a hot coffee and tea in a can. The choices were limited, which was a pity as there are some pretty decent (relatively) vending machine coffees to be had (those who follow me elsewhere will know all about that.* So there we were, in the middle of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in a beautiful old pine forest, and we were drinking (trying to anyway) horribly sweet, but at least hot, canned tea and coffee. Oh well.




* and probably wish that they didn't