World Heritage Site review

World Heritage Site review - Nikko (Japan)

Sugoi!

Published on April 25, 2007 By avonhill In Reviews

Last Wednesday I went to Nikko. Nikko is a world heritage site north of Tokyo, famous for the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Edo period. For a map location of Nikko and details of justification for inclusion, see here
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/913. Anyway for my review (and future reviews of World heritage Sites) I will list 5 sections, with marks given for each section and a final score.

A bit of history about the place before I start - Nikko is a shrine and temple city north of Tokyo. The location is very important, as in Buddhist lore to the North East of many places is located the 'Demon gate'. This is the direction from which Demons could apparently attack, so many places in Japan have a shrine or temple to protect the location from Demons. Nikko is the place for Tokyo. On a map, you may notice that it isn't exactly North East, but in the Edo period is was North East of Edo castle, the seat of government. Anyway shrines and temples have been there for over one thousand years, however the place really got put in the spotlight because of the wish by Tokugawa Ieyasu to be buried there and deified as a Shinto god to protect Tokyo and Japan in the future. his sons honoured his wish and constructed Toshogu, the most elaborate shrine there, around 1616, the date of Ieyasu's death. The shrine had renovations and additions in later years. The place escaped damage from earthquakes and allied bombing on WWII, however there was a fire in the 1830's that destroyed a lot of Nikko, including several sacred swords (I have no idea why they are sacred, but national treasure swords are quite big over here). Anyway on with the review!

ACCESSABILITY - 15/20
The place is located about two hours north of Tokyo, accessable via the Tobu Nikko line, departing from Asakusa station. It is quite a trek to get there. On a day trip, typically half your day will be spent travelling to and from Nikko. I went for one day, and did not have nearly enough time to see everything. Accessability within the site is fairly good. The roads are quite wide (a rarity in Japan) and the paths are clearly marked and well made. There may be some problems for people with a walking impairment, as wheelchair acccess in not the best in all places. However, they could still see everything, as long as they are willing to take round about routes to get there. One thing that I would like to mention, the paths have a channel in which water trickles down, which really adds to the atmosphere of the place. Overall, I give accessability a 15/20.
Picture 1 - path leading to the world heriatge area. Picture 2 - path leading to the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

FACILITIES - 9/10
Personally speaking, I prefer at least some facilities in the places I visit, although it is not vital, hence the low score attached to this section. In Nikko, there are all the facilities you could want. Restaurants, gift shops and hotels are all located nearby, yet sufficiently far from the shrines and temples so as to not be intrusive. The main gift shop in particular has some excellent carvings for sale.There are enough toilets located near the temles so no worries in that regard. The only thing stopping Nikko from getting a perfect score is the slightly intrusive nature of some of the vending machines, which are almost a national icon here.

LOCATION - 20/20
The surroundings of Nikko are incredible. The forests are very dense, much different to Australian forests. The mountians are very steep too, again different to the rolling hills of England and Australia. For the last hour of the train ride there, the time will go quite fast just looking at the forests and scenery. It seems very primeval, yet very beautiful. Around the world heritage area there is plenty to do. It has one of Japans top three waterfalls, one of the top three bridges in Japan (Shinkyo Bridge), lake Chuzenji and a couple of theme parks, Edo Mura (an Edo period theme park, complete with Samurai, Geisha and Ninja re-enactors!) and Tobu World Square (A theme park which recreated in 1:25 scale around 100 of the most famous buildings in the world). There are hot springs to try if you are into them (I am not) and also several good bird watching sites. There are a couple of national parks nearby if you like hiking, and close to Nikko is the city of Kinugawa, famous for its hot springs and also for its excellent (if short) river cruises. There is almost everything I need in Nikko. A perfect 20/20. Picture - Shinkyo Bridge

ATTRACTIONS - 24/30
The actual listed world heritage sites are the shrines of Toshogu and Futarasan, as well as Rinnoji Temple. There are others, but those are the main ones. Toshogu is amazing. Very elaborate, as one would expect for the mausoleum of one of Japan's greatest rulers. It can sometimes get very crowded, as Nikko is popular for foreign visitors and is practically a compulsory excursion for all Japanese Primary (Elementary) schools in the Kanto region. Fortunately I went the day after a major festival, so most people who visited would have gone the day before. I recommend this course of action to others wanting to visit any world heritage sites in Japan (or throughout the world really). The other temples are pretty good, but nothing outstanding. Toshogu easily takes the limelight. There are two famous carvings in Toshogu you should look out for, the first being the Sleeping cat (carved by one of Japans most famous Edo era sculptors) and the three monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). Withing the world heritage area there are also a couple of museums, one for art and one for items. The art museum is fairly standard, although the national treasure museum is fantastic (Even though they have a figure of an English Longbowmen incorrectly dated as the 11th-14th centuries, when it should be 13th-16th centuries)! Anyway, you could skip seeing the other temples and just see Toshogu, although I would recommend seeing the others just for some of the stunning natural scenery around. 24/30.
Picture 1 - Rinnoji temple Picture 2 - Entrance to Toshogu Picture 3 - Toshogu shrine Picture 4 - The three monkeys

AFFORDABILITY - 19/20
Nikko is a cheap place to visit. The train ticket costs 1320 Yen one way (Standard train), cheaper than petrol for driving, and once in the area you can buy a combination ticket for 1000 Yen that will get you into all the main temples and shrines (with the exception of Tokugawa's tomb, an extra 520 Yen that I definately recommend paying). The Museums cost extra, 500 Yen to enter one or 900 Yen to enter both. The art muesum I found mediocre, so save yourself the money and just go to the national treasure museum. The National treasure museum is also not visited by tourist groups, so is quiet and peaceful. The souveniers there are not horribly expensive like in many other tourist areas, however food is slighly more expensive than the rest of Japan, stopping Nikko from getting a perfect score. Still cheap compared to Australia, Europe and North America though.

CONCLUSION - 87/100
Nikko is a must see attraction in Japan. Its affordability and location are unmatched, and will make for an enjoyable visit. It is my favourite place in Japan so far. Stop reading this and get over there!

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