Nikko is one of the gateways from Tokyo that with Kamakura is recommended most often. It’s a mystical place where temples and nature coexist in harmony. Of course, nowadays it is famous especially for the Unesco Heritage temples and the colorful Toshogu, appreciated by tourists who visit Nikko in a day from Tokyo. But in the Nikko mountains, there is much more to explore.
The history of Nikko begins 1200 years ago, in 766, when the monk Shodo Shonin arrived in this place and founded the current Rinnoji temple, before climbing and reaching the top of the sacred Mount Nantai and founding the Chuzenji Temple, overlooking the homonymous lake at the foot of one of Nikko’s three sacred mountains. Nikko thus became the meeting place and fusion between the Buddhism brought by the monk and the Shinto spirituality of nature and the sacred mountains of Nikko.
After the riots of the Sengoku Jidai, the era of warring states, Nikko returned to shine when Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first Shogun of united Japan choose Nikko as its burial place, becoming the deity protector of Japan.
Visiting Nikko means feeling the energy released by nature, from the tall cedars that rise to the sky, the onsen hidden in the lush valleys. It’s the purity of Nikko’s water, it’s the energy of autumn colors. Nikko is often visited as a day trip from Tokyo, but if you can, treat yourself to a night here, soak in its onsen surrounded by this powerful nature and calmly visit the natural areas as well as the temple area.
