Nikko is a definite cultural must go for a visiting tourist. Understand that 70% of the Japanese observe Shinto; 60% are Buddhists; 0.8% Christians therefore many are of both faiths – apparently observing Buddhism for ancestral worship and Shinto for business.

The city has been the centre of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship for many centuries and is therefore home to RyobuShinto: the combination of Buddhism and Shinto. It is also well known for its gorgeous natural scenery including mountainous landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys (yes we saw 3!) and hiking trails.

Nikko is most famous for the World-Heritage listed Toshogu Shrine. Unless you have read up on Nikko, it is well worth doing a tour, or grabbing a local in the know, as your visit becomes more meaningful knowing the history behind the buildings in the shrine (although they are also beautiful in their own right.)

Toshogu Shrine honours Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The shrine is home to over 100 structures with the more famous including the imposing Yomeimon (main gate) with over 300 dazzling carvings of mythical beasts, such as dragons, giraffes, and lions, and Chinese sages; the Sacred Stable and its carvings of the three “see-no-evil, speak-no-evil, hear-no-evil” monkeys; and the Gojunoto (5-storied pagoda). The Shrine structures are elaborate and extravagant with many buildings covered in gold sheets. Yuki, our tour guide mentioned 8 trillion yen – I’m not sure if this was the cost to establish the shrine or its current worth – either way it’s seems a staggering amount.

The rest of our day saw us drive the Irohazaka zigzag driveway up the mountains. The driveway is an attraction in itself with 20 hairpin curves going up and 28 going down. Each of the curves has a name like “I” “RO” “HA” (A,B,C in the Japanese alphabet, called hiragana).

Lake Chuzenji at the foot of Mt.Nantai was a peaceful lake where we relaxed for a bit after lunch at a local restaurant. Yuki said if we were lucky we would see some monkeys and we did – 3 of them. I took so many photos you would think I’d never seen monkeys before in my life. Before heading back down the zigzag driveway we had a quick stop at one of Japan’s three finest waterfalls: Kegon Waterfall which was 100m in height.