Nikkō: Shrines of the Shogun and the Kegon Falls

Nikkō is a city in Tochigi Prefecture where a cedar-shaded hillside holds the most lavishly carved religious buildings in Japan. The Tokugawa shoguns buried their founder here and spared nothing doing it, and the shrines are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The day has two halves. The morning is a compact walk of about 3 km through the shrine precinct — short in distance, long in stairs, and worth taking slowly. The afternoon climbs by bus into the mountains above town to Kegon Falls and Lake Chūzenji, which sit high enough to have their own weather.

Getting there. From Tokyo, the Tobu Railway from Asakusa is the usual approach: limited express trains take about two hours, ordinary services closer to two and a half or three. From Nikkō station, buses run up to the shrine area, and a separate bus climbs the hairpin Irohazaka road to Chūzenji.

Permits & tickets. No permit needed. Most sites charge separately — Tōshō-gū, Rinnō-ji (a combined ticket covers the temple and its garden), Futarasan, crossing the Shinkyō bridge, and the elevator down to the foot of Kegon Falls. Walking the precinct itself is free.

Good to know:

Arrive early or come late in the afternoon; the tour buses leave around dusk and the shrines empty out.
The mountain road to Chūzenji is a different climate from the town below — it is cold well into spring and can be snowbound or closed in winter, when the falls partly freeze.
Give the Irohazaka bus plenty of slack in autumn; it is one of the most congested roads in the region at peak colour.

Day 1

The shrine precinct, then up to the lake

Shinkyō bridge → Lake Chūzenji 4 km

Navigate this day

From a lacquered bridge at the river, up through temple and shrine grounds under old cedars, then a climb by road to a waterfall and the lake that feeds it.

Segments

Shinkyō bridge 0.6 km 📍 Map

Nikkō station bus stop → Shinkyō bridge

Town road and riverside

The vermilion "sacred bridge" arcs over the Daiya River and marks the boundary between the town and the shrine precinct. In feudal times only the shogun was permitted to cross it; today a small fee buys you the walk across, though the view from the bank is free.
Rinnō-ji 0.5 km 📍 Map

Shinkyō bridge → Rinnō-ji

Stone steps and temple approach

A Tendai Buddhist temple whose founding is credited to Shōdō Shōnin, the monk who brought Buddhism to Nikkō in the 8th century. Its main hall holds three large gilded Buddha figures, and the Shōyō-en garden beside it is usually far quieter than the shrines uphill.

About this place

Rinnō-ji (輪王寺) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Nikkō Tōshō-gū 0.6 km 📍 Map

Rinnō-ji → Nikkō Tōshō-gū

Cedar avenue and long stone stairways

The mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the shogunate, and the most extravagantly decorated shrine in the country. The Yōmeimon gate alone carries some four hundred carvings. Look for the small sleeping cat, the nemuri-neko, above a side corridor, and the three wise monkeys on the sacred stable. A long flight of steps behind the shrine climbs to Ieyasu's tomb. Allow about two hours.

About this place

Nikkō Tōshō-gū (日光東照宮) is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
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Photo: 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0
Futarasan shrine 0.4 km 📍 Map

Nikkō Tōshō-gū → Futarasan shrine

Forest path between precincts

Older and much plainer than its neighbour, Futarasan dates back to 782, and its existing main structure — built in 1617 — is the oldest building in Nikkō. The shrine is bound up with the mountains north of town, including Nantai, and its main festival runs each April.

About this place

Futarasan jinja (二荒山神社) is a Shinto shrine in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It is also known as Nikkō Futarasan Shrine, to distinguish it from the Utsunomiya Futarayama Jinja, which shares the same kanji in its name. Both shrines claim the title of ichinomiya of the former Shimotsuke Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually from April 13 to April 17.
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Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Fg2 assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain
Kegon Falls 0.8 km 📍 Map

Nikkō shrine area → Kegon Falls observation deck

Bus ride, then paved deck paths

Take the bus up the hairpin Irohazaka road into Nikkō National Park. Kegon is reckoned one of Japan's three great waterfalls: the main drop is about 97 metres, with roughly a dozen smaller falls leaking through cracks between the mountain and the old lava flows behind it. A paid elevator drops to a lower deck at the plunge pool.

About this place

Kegon Falls is located at Lake Chūzenji in Nikkō National Park near the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. The falls were formed when the Daiya River was rerouted by lava flows. The main falls had a height of approximately 97 metres (318 ft) and about twelve smaller waterfalls are situated behind and to the sides of Kegon Falls, leaking through the many cracks between the mountain and the lava flows.
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Photo: Uraomote yamaneko · CC BY-SA 3.0
Lake Chūzenji 1.1 km 📍 Map

Kegon Falls → Chūzenji lakeshore

Lakeside promenade

The lake that feeds the falls, formed about twenty thousand years ago when an eruption of Mount Nantai dammed the river. Sightseeing boats cross it in season. It sits high in the mountains and is markedly colder than the town below — the reason the shoreline empties out in winter.

About this place

Lake Chūzenji , also called Sea of Happiness, is a scenic lake in Nikkō National Park in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It was created 20,000 years ago when Mount Nantai (2484 m) erupted and blocked the river.
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Photo: Uraomote yamaneko · CC BY-SA 3.0