Historic Nikko

Today we did a little day trip to Nikko, about 2 hours by rapid train out of Tokyo. Thankfully all our other day trips will have shorter travel times because today was massive. We left the hotel at about 6:30am and stepped off the train in Tokyo at about 7:00pm. We chose not to upgrade to limited express train tickets, to save money, but it mean an extra 40minutes on the way home. Nikko is a small town that has a lot of shrines and temples in a small space and so it is very popular for day trips.

There are three main attractions in Nikko; We decided to skip one after visiting the Rinnoji Temple and Toshogu Shrine and opt for a walk up to the Takino'o Shrine. I don't have any photos of the Rinnoji temple because it is under reconstruction and is covered in a big shed. The artifacts from inside are on display but you're not allowed to take photos inside. Originally, we were going to do the three major sights because I read there was a combination ticket. However, they no longer do this. We bought a combined ticket for the Rinnoji and the Taiyuin for about $10 each. The Taiyuin was quite interesting and there were not many people there.

The next stop was the Toshogu Shrine which is very big and has a number of parts. These days you have to buy an all inclusive ticket, there used to be part tickets. It was about $15 each and included seeing the stupid sleeping cat. I'm sorry, but it's not a super life like cat picture, and I didn't want to pay to see it. So that annoys me. The rest of the shrine is very pretty and intricately painted, with many impressive animal representations. Unfortunately, again, you couldn't take photos in the main halls of the shrine, where the most detailed and impressive works were.

5 story pagoda

Amazing sleeping cat

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil monkeys

It was at this point I decided I really didn't want to bother with the last shrine because I knew I would be over it by then. So we headed up the hill to the Takino'o Shrine. You can pick up a map that has heritage walking tracks from the information booth that is on the left as you exit the ticket checking station at Nikko train station. There are two main walks, one heads up to Takino'o and the other heads down to the Kanman-ga-fuchi Abyss. Both are good options if you are the type of person who gets sick of tourist crowds. After we striped off some layers, we enjoyed the steady uphill walk to Takino'o. Along the way you pass a number of other little things to look at, marked on the walking map.

Peaceful walking track

Some of the other artifacts you see along the walk

We walked back into Nikko for lunch, passing the Shinkyo bridge on the way. When I saw it I let out "Is that it!?". It was an exclamation that contained a bit of disappointment. After reading about how famous this little bridge is, I expected it to be much bigger. It's 28m across according to the information guide. You can pay to walk on it, but I don't really think it's worth it.

After lunch we started the walk to the Kanman-ga-fuchi Abyss because I wanted to see the Narabi-jizo which are 74 statues lined up along the bank of the Abyss. They all have red knitted beanies and bibs on them. We only went halfway around the Abyss walk before turning back for the train station.

Tonight we booked tickets on the bullet train to Nagano for tomorrow morning. We would probably have booked cheaper express tickets, but we had a bit of trouble in the communication side of things and weren't sure if there were none going to Nagano. We finally had some sushi tonight. $25 at a sushi train filled our bellies pretty well. It was mostly sashimi. I won't be eating squid sashimi again, toughest thing every. It was like trying to chew a boot. We also tried salmon, tuna, octopus, baby octopus and scallops. And there were quite a few that I ate without a clue of what they were, or if they were raw or cooked. It was all quite good, but I think I would skip the octopus sushimi next time too. Tomorrow is another early morning, and then it's on to the slopes!