First post reservation
Nikko town
quite a quiet place overall outside the shrines area, pity this place is not promoted much
given that this is the final resting place for Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川 家康, THE Tokugawa Ieyasu and
also his grandson, Tokugawa Iemitsu
the place however is runned over by all the primary school kids, like in the hundreds and by the bus loads
but you know, these kids on a day trip don't spend money there nor buy anything from the shops
so commerce activity in the shops in nikko town and chuzenji itself are pretty tepid which is sad IMO =/
although the hotels in chuzenji onsen areas was all occupied, it didn't have much foreign tourist there at all even at the lake area, which makes it peaceful and nice but also not exciting, all the boat rental onjisans just sitting around all day
according to this - http://nikko-travel.jp/english/access/
you can take a shinkansen from Tokyo station --> utsunomiya --> local train to JR Nikko, sit all the way
- OR -
Take the tobu rail from Asakusa / shinjuku / Ikebukuro
I DID NOT purchase the Tobu Nikko area pass, as they can only be bought in Tokyo but not at the Nikko train stations, so all we did was to get the bus passes.
There are 3 types of bus passes, as marked out by the kind information auntie on the picture above
1. Nikko city itself + Chuzenji onsen area
2. Nikko + Chuzenji onsen area + Senjogahara plains
3. Nikko + Chuzenji onsen area + Senjogahara plains + yumoto onsen area = JPY 3000, which i bought
Senjogahara plains -- is a hiking place, infact the whole place is kinda fenced up to prevent the increasing deer population from running out on to the roads amongst other animals, very much like jurassic park IMO
you can use your suica/passmo/Icoca card to PAY but NOT put the bus pass inside your IC card
**note on JR passes**
the TOKYO WIDE JR PASS does actually cover Nikko, given its probably the nearest onsen town to Tokyo
plus the JR pass gives you almost all access rides within tokyo metro area i.e. the all efficient yamanote and chuo line
JR Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) - do remember this @#$%@$%^@#$ office is a 9am--7pm office (i think @ shinjuku)
infact when we wanted to get our passes, it was already past 7 pm so we have to buy individual rides
i went to Nikko via Tobu rail and back to Tokyo via shinkansen
****
okay less talking and more pics please
The shrines
so on to the crowning glory of Nikko [figure 1]
you will have to pay to visit every single attraction in that picture
all tickets can be bought at the train station, the TOBU station is where the main tourist activity is
cause thats where the tourisim counter is, not the JR station
you can either buy tickets to enter the buildings at the Tobu Nikko station or at the attraction itself
The point of this post is to inform you of the following, base on my experience
figure 2
1. If you are coming down from the onsens area, bus stop 9 is the place you want to alight at and take
a short walk into the shrines area
2. or you can alight at Shinkyo, bus stop 7, cross the road and take the world heritage bus into the
shrines area.
3. the bus map above, figure 2, is HIGHLY misleading IMO in terms of distance to each other , they are all
adjacent to each other. however, i did not enter Futarasan Shrine
4. bus stop 85 is actually right at the door step of Taiyūin Temple, like right at the path to the entrance of it
bus stop 83 is actually right at the door step of Rinnōji Temple,
bus stop 82 is more at the start of omotesando, which is the gravel path leading up to the masoluem
5. A lot of people actually alight at #82 and not knowing where to go next cause the bus stop is infront of the
museum building which hides the traditional building attractions behind it
6. No fear, this post is here.
#82 actually puts you infront of a dragon fountain + some buddhist monk statue
Look at it, take the left road, walk down like 10 steps, the gravel path on your right is what you on the maps
7. As you can see , figure 1 and 2 are quite different
...Figure 2 is a bus map, hence it only shows the attractions the bus can bring you to
...The places above the toshogu shrine in figure, i do not know how to get there, it didnt seem like i could exit the area from the north part of the toshogu shrine
8. the small grey stone structure above the toshogu shrine in figure 2, i believe is depicting the tomb of tokugawa Ieysau itself; taiyuin shrine holds the tomb of Iemitsu
9. the main attraction of Rinnoji is the Sanbutsudo hall, which atm is under restoration, so the Japs have actually built a warehouse covering the WHOLE 4/5 story building, instead of like just scaffolding
GINNA PI EVERYWHERE ~~~~~~
10. out of the 4 main attraction buildings in the shrines area, the entrance tickets to Rinnoji and Taiyuyin can actually be bought together in a single ticket, which is white colour ticket, like your boarding pass.
So i went Rinnoji first, they took the white ticket and gave me the Taiyuin ticket in exchange,
i suppose the same thing should happen if you happen to visit Taiyuin first, you will receive a Rinnoji entrance ticket in exchange
sorry, no pics of the original white ticket, i forgot to take a pic
Futarasan and Toshogu shrine each have their own individual entrance tickets
if you purchase the 2 in 1 ticket, they will pass you this white slip when you enter your first building
which for me is the Rinnoji side
this IMO is the most accurate depiction of how close the buildings are to each other, instead of what you see on other tourist maps.
11. BTW from the toshogu shrine hall itself to tokugawa's tomb is 207 steps (STAIRCASE) one way, so if thats a concern for you and your knees or someone else and their knees then at least now you know
Being a fervent traveller to Japan, like you are, you also know that is the only way up and down =)
plus you can join the many school children counting their steps to count your steps too, up or downwards =)
12. The entrance tickets are actually NOT DATED, so you can buy today and visit the shrines tomorrow, the day after... etc which i suppose is the aim of the entry system, to allow you to go enjoy the onsen, the scenery, the hikes + visiting the shrines
13. As you can see below,
1. bus stop #85
2. the "Amitabha riding a peacock" temple
3. Taiyuin gate
4. Futarasan shrine toji gate entrance
5. path to Toshogu shrine
hence my point about how close the buildings are to each other, actually you can also alight at bus stop #85 and walk anti-clockwise if it is easier for you. however the world heritage bus is a loop service which only goes clockwise direction
13. https://jw-webmagazine.com/one-day-trip-to-nikko-ce880fb49a10
this website is probably one of the better ones IMO
the colours you see now are all restored and covered with lacquer, which makes the whole place very vivid and bright, however the colouring is quite reflective thanks to the lacquer and might seem overdone when you are there
so the monkey you see in the website is no longer of that faded form, but restored like the rest of the other building pics
SIDE NOTE
There is an un-shown shrine right outside Taifuyin, where bus stop #85 is, which is apparently not shown on any maps i have seen....
if you're into Buddhism.
Being Japan, they built a warehouse over the Sanbutsudo to restore it. In it lies a peculiar "3 sages of the West" aka 四方三圣. The Amitabha Buddha is flanked by both a thousand hand Kannon (观音) and a horse head Kannon (which also has 4 faces) instead of 大势至 Bodhisattva as commonly depicted in Chinese temples.
this temple has also a numerous collection of statues of the 八大菩萨/ 十二生肖守护佛, which is the 8 great Bodhisattva/Buddhas, which are also the 8 Buddha protectors of the 12 zodiac creatures.
In my minute collection of travels in japan, this is the only temple i know that sells talisman according to the zodiac, which is of course talisman of one of the respective 8 Bodhisattva/Buddhas, instead of the normal cloth bag talisman you see in other more popular touristy attraction temples, like asakusa, todaiji, toji.... etc
The 2nd temple, which doesn't exactly have a name, houses the one and only, in all of Japan, Amitabha riding a peacock, 五智宝冠阿弥佗如来. Also it's the only temple, that i know of in Japan, to purchase a peacock talisman as in the cloth bag has a picture of a peacock on it, comes in 2 colours, red or white
So other then Toji of Kyoto and The Great Buddha in Kamakura, you might wanna give these temples your respects.
so as you can see, the national treasures held in this area are also the one and only of national cultural heritage treasures
Nikko town
quite a quiet place overall outside the shrines area, pity this place is not promoted much
given that this is the final resting place for Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川 家康, THE Tokugawa Ieyasu and
also his grandson, Tokugawa Iemitsu
the place however is runned over by all the primary school kids, like in the hundreds and by the bus loads
but you know, these kids on a day trip don't spend money there nor buy anything from the shops
so commerce activity in the shops in nikko town and chuzenji itself are pretty tepid which is sad IMO =/
although the hotels in chuzenji onsen areas was all occupied, it didn't have much foreign tourist there at all even at the lake area, which makes it peaceful and nice but also not exciting, all the boat rental onjisans just sitting around all day
according to this - http://nikko-travel.jp/english/access/
you can take a shinkansen from Tokyo station --> utsunomiya --> local train to JR Nikko, sit all the way
- OR -
Take the tobu rail from Asakusa / shinjuku / Ikebukuro
I DID NOT purchase the Tobu Nikko area pass, as they can only be bought in Tokyo but not at the Nikko train stations, so all we did was to get the bus passes.
There are 3 types of bus passes, as marked out by the kind information auntie on the picture above
1. Nikko city itself + Chuzenji onsen area
2. Nikko + Chuzenji onsen area + Senjogahara plains
3. Nikko + Chuzenji onsen area + Senjogahara plains + yumoto onsen area = JPY 3000, which i bought
Senjogahara plains -- is a hiking place, infact the whole place is kinda fenced up to prevent the increasing deer population from running out on to the roads amongst other animals, very much like jurassic park IMO
you can use your suica/passmo/Icoca card to PAY but NOT put the bus pass inside your IC card
**note on JR passes**
the TOKYO WIDE JR PASS does actually cover Nikko, given its probably the nearest onsen town to Tokyo
plus the JR pass gives you almost all access rides within tokyo metro area i.e. the all efficient yamanote and chuo line
JR Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) - do remember this @#$%@$%^@#$ office is a 9am--7pm office (i think @ shinjuku)
infact when we wanted to get our passes, it was already past 7 pm so we have to buy individual rides
i went to Nikko via Tobu rail and back to Tokyo via shinkansen
****
okay less talking and more pics please
The shrines
so on to the crowning glory of Nikko [figure 1]
you will have to pay to visit every single attraction in that picture
all tickets can be bought at the train station, the TOBU station is where the main tourist activity is
cause thats where the tourisim counter is, not the JR station
you can either buy tickets to enter the buildings at the Tobu Nikko station or at the attraction itself
The point of this post is to inform you of the following, base on my experience
figure 2
1. If you are coming down from the onsens area, bus stop 9 is the place you want to alight at and take
a short walk into the shrines area
2. or you can alight at Shinkyo, bus stop 7, cross the road and take the world heritage bus into the
shrines area.
3. the bus map above, figure 2, is HIGHLY misleading IMO in terms of distance to each other , they are all
adjacent to each other. however, i did not enter Futarasan Shrine
4. bus stop 85 is actually right at the door step of Taiyūin Temple, like right at the path to the entrance of it
bus stop 83 is actually right at the door step of Rinnōji Temple,
bus stop 82 is more at the start of omotesando, which is the gravel path leading up to the masoluem
5. A lot of people actually alight at #82 and not knowing where to go next cause the bus stop is infront of the
museum building which hides the traditional building attractions behind it
6. No fear, this post is here.
#82 actually puts you infront of a dragon fountain + some buddhist monk statue
Look at it, take the left road, walk down like 10 steps, the gravel path on your right is what you on the maps
7. As you can see , figure 1 and 2 are quite different
...Figure 2 is a bus map, hence it only shows the attractions the bus can bring you to
...The places above the toshogu shrine in figure, i do not know how to get there, it didnt seem like i could exit the area from the north part of the toshogu shrine
8. the small grey stone structure above the toshogu shrine in figure 2, i believe is depicting the tomb of tokugawa Ieysau itself; taiyuin shrine holds the tomb of Iemitsu
9. the main attraction of Rinnoji is the Sanbutsudo hall, which atm is under restoration, so the Japs have actually built a warehouse covering the WHOLE 4/5 story building, instead of like just scaffolding
GINNA PI EVERYWHERE ~~~~~~
10. out of the 4 main attraction buildings in the shrines area, the entrance tickets to Rinnoji and Taiyuyin can actually be bought together in a single ticket, which is white colour ticket, like your boarding pass.
So i went Rinnoji first, they took the white ticket and gave me the Taiyuin ticket in exchange,
i suppose the same thing should happen if you happen to visit Taiyuin first, you will receive a Rinnoji entrance ticket in exchange
sorry, no pics of the original white ticket, i forgot to take a pic
Futarasan and Toshogu shrine each have their own individual entrance tickets
if you purchase the 2 in 1 ticket, they will pass you this white slip when you enter your first building
which for me is the Rinnoji side
this IMO is the most accurate depiction of how close the buildings are to each other, instead of what you see on other tourist maps.
11. BTW from the toshogu shrine hall itself to tokugawa's tomb is 207 steps (STAIRCASE) one way, so if thats a concern for you and your knees or someone else and their knees then at least now you know
Being a fervent traveller to Japan, like you are, you also know that is the only way up and down =)
plus you can join the many school children counting their steps to count your steps too, up or downwards =)
12. The entrance tickets are actually NOT DATED, so you can buy today and visit the shrines tomorrow, the day after... etc which i suppose is the aim of the entry system, to allow you to go enjoy the onsen, the scenery, the hikes + visiting the shrines
13. As you can see below,
1. bus stop #85
2. the "Amitabha riding a peacock" temple
3. Taiyuin gate
4. Futarasan shrine toji gate entrance
5. path to Toshogu shrine
hence my point about how close the buildings are to each other, actually you can also alight at bus stop #85 and walk anti-clockwise if it is easier for you. however the world heritage bus is a loop service which only goes clockwise direction
13. https://jw-webmagazine.com/one-day-trip-to-nikko-ce880fb49a10
this website is probably one of the better ones IMO
the colours you see now are all restored and covered with lacquer, which makes the whole place very vivid and bright, however the colouring is quite reflective thanks to the lacquer and might seem overdone when you are there
so the monkey you see in the website is no longer of that faded form, but restored like the rest of the other building pics
SIDE NOTE
There is an un-shown shrine right outside Taifuyin, where bus stop #85 is, which is apparently not shown on any maps i have seen....
if you're into Buddhism.
Being Japan, they built a warehouse over the Sanbutsudo to restore it. In it lies a peculiar "3 sages of the West" aka 四方三圣. The Amitabha Buddha is flanked by both a thousand hand Kannon (观音) and a horse head Kannon (which also has 4 faces) instead of 大势至 Bodhisattva as commonly depicted in Chinese temples.
this temple has also a numerous collection of statues of the 八大菩萨/ 十二生肖守护佛, which is the 8 great Bodhisattva/Buddhas, which are also the 8 Buddha protectors of the 12 zodiac creatures.
In my minute collection of travels in japan, this is the only temple i know that sells talisman according to the zodiac, which is of course talisman of one of the respective 8 Bodhisattva/Buddhas, instead of the normal cloth bag talisman you see in other more popular touristy attraction temples, like asakusa, todaiji, toji.... etc
The 2nd temple, which doesn't exactly have a name, houses the one and only, in all of Japan, Amitabha riding a peacock, 五智宝冠阿弥佗如来. Also it's the only temple, that i know of in Japan, to purchase a peacock talisman as in the cloth bag has a picture of a peacock on it, comes in 2 colours, red or white
So other then Toji of Kyoto and The Great Buddha in Kamakura, you might wanna give these temples your respects.
so as you can see, the national treasures held in this area are also the one and only of national cultural heritage treasures
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