Nikko

One of Japan's national treasures is Nikko National Park. This park is beautiful and it contains world heritage sites as well as historically and culturally significant sites as well. Nikko is famous for its red bridge, koyo (autumn foliage) and the tomb of the third shogun samurai.

Nikko also has Kegon waterfall, one of the three largest in Japan and chuzenji (chuzenjiko) lake. To get to chuzenji, it's a drive up a very windy (kunekune) mountain road. Chuzenjiko was formed by a volcanic eruption and sits about 1200 m above sea level.

The tomb of the third shogun samurai and accompanying shrine (Tosho-gu shrine) is very ornate and richly decorated with color, gold and carvings. This is unusual for Japanese tombs and shrines. Usually they are not so garish. Not to say that Nikko is garish, it's just decorated in more of a Chinese way than Japanese. In the shrine and courtyard dedicated to the third shogun, you can find the famous three monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. It is said that there are wild monkeys in nikko, I didn't see any, thank goodness. Another memorable animal carving is the sleeping cat (nemuri neko). It's a famous symbol of the Tosho-gu shrine and it was believed to be the incarnate form of the Buddha of healing.

I love Nikko. It's gorgeous and full of nature. It's a nice change from the city. I'll be back for sure, especially to get my fill of snow in the winter...