color adorned with 400 ornate carvings of dancing maidens, birds and flowers. Its deep red five-story pagoda is accented with intricate decorations and vivid golds and greens. The more serene white and gold of the Kara-mon Gate provides the backdrop for even more elaborate carvings.
An estimated 15,000 craftsmen took two years to build the Tosho-gu complex, during which they went through some 2.5 million sheets of gold leaf, a fitting decadence perhaps considering that the shrine was built for one of Japanese history’s most towering figures–Tokugawa Ieyasu, the warlord who unified Japan at the start of the 17th century to become the first of the Edo-era shoguns.
Yet Tosho-gu isn’t all about Edo-era ostentation. Its natural setting, amid an ancient cryptomeria forest, evokes a sense of calm. And away from the glare of the main shrine buildings, Tosho-gu boasts many subtle points of interest. Above the shrine’s sacred stables, which shelter a beautiful white imperial horse given to Japan by New Zealand, hangs a famed carving of the three wise monkeys–remember “Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil”?–an image that represents the three main principles of Tendai Buddhism. Nearby, en route to Ieyasu’s surprisingly understated tomb, is the equally renowned (though so small it’s easily missed) 16th- or 17th-century Nemuri Neko carving of a sleeping cat.
Just as impressive is the Honji-do, a small hall that is actually part of a separate temple, not Tosho-gu. The hall’s ceiling is adorned with the painting of a raging dragon that the temple’s priests bring to life by standing directly under its head and clapping two blocks of wood together, thus creating an echo that shrieks dramatically through the temple.
Opening Times Open daily from 8 a.m. to at least 4 p.m. Getting There Nikko is best reached on the Tobu Line (Tobu Nikko Station) from Asakusa in Tokyo (2 hours 10 minutes). From there frequent buses make the short run to Tosho-gu, which is otherwise a 20-minute walk. Contact Nikko Tourist Association: nikko-jp.org Admission Fee Admission to Tosho-gu is ¥1,300, but to see all of Nikko’s main attractions it’s better to buy a ¥1,000 combination ticket permitting entrance to Tosho-gu (Ieyasu’s tomb then costs an additional ¥520) and the nearby Futarasan and Rinno-ji temples.
6 Mount Fuji and Hakone
Japan’s most iconic sight, now a World Heritage Site
Whether you catch a fleeting glimpse of the near perfectly symmetrical dome through a train window or watch in wonder from Tokyo as her snow-capped peak appears far to the west through the city smog, there’s something mesmerizing about Mount Fuji (known in Japanese as Fuji-san).
Maybe it’s the way Fuji-san dominates the vista as she straddles the prefectures of Yamanashi and Shizuoka. At 3,776 meters (12,388 feet), she is comfortably the nation’s tallest peak, and with no other mountains nearby, Fuji-san stands fully visible from sprawling base to narrowing peak. Her influence on Japan has been profound. The peak has inspired countless artists and integrated herself into both Shinto and Buddhist traditions. The legendary ukiyo-e woodblock printmaker Hokusai (1760–1849) was so smitten that he dedicated much of his work to capturing Fuji’s changing moods. His woodblock series, 36 Views of Mount Fuji, includes the celebrated Great Wave Off Kanagawa, whose snow-capped Fuji in the distance and giant foaming wave menacingly poised to break in the foreground is recognizable to anyone with a passing interest in Japan.
In Shintoism, the peak of the now dormant volcano is home to a fire god and, despite its naked lunarscape, a goddess of trees. In Buddhism, Fuji is home to Dainichi Nyorai, the Buddha of All-Illuminating Wisdom. Consequently, pilgrims have journeyed to Fuji’s peak for spiritual enlightenment for centuries. Fuji-san’s symbolic power was reputedly even recognized by the Allied authorities in World War II. According to one tale, they planned to bomb Fuji’s white cap with blood red paint in order to break the Japanese spirit.
The best way to enjoy Fuji-san up close is to visit the Hakone area (page 39), a popular weekend retreat for Tokyoites because of its natural hot springs, fine inns, mountain vistas and an array of other attractions, including the brilliant Hakone Open Air Museum (page 107) and the volcanic Owakudani Valley with its steaming sulfur vents and hot springs.
If you want a really close look at Fuji, you can even climb it in the summer months, although it is a long challenging hike. However, you don’t need to venture out of Tokyo to get a good view. On a clear day, head up to the free observation deck on the 45th floor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Shinjuku (page 34) and Fuji-san reveals all her wonder.
Getting There The Hakone area is served by Hakone-Yumoto Station, which can be reached on the Odakyu Line from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo in 80 minutes. Contact Hakone Town Tourist Association: hakone.or.jp/english
7 Traditional Houses of Shirakawa-go
Head back in time to the villages of the Hida Highlands
Seeing Ogimachi village for the first time, it’s easy to imagine you are looking upon a scene unchanged for centuries. The village is one of several in the Shirakawa-go region in the Hida Highlands (page 46) that is still dominated by towering thatched farmhouses that blend with a carpet of lush green rice paddies and a backdrop of dense forest to create a scene that could be straight from a Brothers’ Grimm tale. There’s good reason these villages have barely changed over the centuries. Less than a hundred years ago, the densely forested valleys here were among the most secluded in Japan. Heavy snowfall and a lack of road connections left the area’s villages cut off from modernization.
The gassho-zukuri name given to the farmhouses comes from their sloping A-shaped roofs. Designed much like those in Scandinavia to stop snow accumulating in the harsh winter months, they are said to resemble hands in prayer (gassho). The distinctive thatched houses also reveal much about the traditional lifestyle of the area. Sometimes reaching up to five floors in height, they can house several generations of a family, and in some cases more than a single family, and allow enough space for indoor cultivation. Taking advantage of the heat rising from the living quarters down below, often the upper floors are used for the raising of silkworms.
All seasons provide a stunning backdrop to these isolated mountain villages. Because of the highly flammable nature of the structures, on the last Sunday in October the local fire departments hose down the straw roofs after the parching sun of summer. In winter, when the roofs seem to support more snow than it is possible, the interiors are lighted and snow-covered pathways are lantern-lit to allow visitors to carefully wend their way and imagination into a lifestyle that is virtually unthinkable, a time when people lived merely inside, a few degrees warmer than outside.
Ainokura, another gasho-zukuri village, is about an hour’s ride north with fewer homes but also far fewer tourists. The setting is just as majestic but access is less convenient.
Getting There Shirakawa-go can be accessed via Nagoya, from where it is just over 2 hours on the JR Takayama Line to Takayama Station. Buses that run to Shirakawa-go take 50 minutes. Also accessed by a 90-minute bus ride from Kanazawa. See online timetable: japan-guide.com/bus/shirakawa-go.html Contact Shirakawa Village Office: shirakawa-go.org/english
8 Kanazawa Castle and Kenroku-en
A traditional castle town on Japan’s western shore
All that glitters