NIKKO FROM TOKYO

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Day 13: TOKYO - NIKKO: Rinno-ji, Toshogu, Futarasan - TOKYO: Akihabara, Shibuya

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

We weren't dead, we weren't partying… we had only slept 3 hours and that's why it took us so much to get up! And we've done it for something very special: Today is the day we will visit Nikko from Tokyo.
Yesterday we celebrated our particular New Year's Eve in Tokyo and in the end, between one thing and another we went to bed after 2 in the morning.
And today, day of New Year in Tokyo, the alarm sounded at 5.30 in the morning, so you can imagine the shock and "outrage" that this sound has caused us ... but Nikko is waiting for us, so we have to get going!
After a quick shower and a soluble coffee, with the help of the water heater that we have at our service in the hotel in Tokyo, Hotel Horidome Villa, we are on our way, a little more hustler, towards Shin Nihombashi station, from which we will change to get to Tokyo station, where we have to take the shinkansen that will take us to Utsunomiya by platform 20 at 7.12 in the morning in 50 minutes. Piece of morning summary we just did!
A good and comfortable option to visit Nikko is to book this tour with a guide in Spanish, where they will pick you up at the hotel.

From there we will have to take the line Nikko, which in another 45 minutes will leave us in the place where we will spend the rest of the day New Year in Japan, which will occupy most of today.
The train arrives of course on time and when we check the tickets we have booked with the 14-day JRP, we realize that the seats belong to wagon 12, which is Green Class !! Ole you!

Shinkansen to Nikko from Tokyo

Not bad at all, the truth begins the year in first class!

We miss each other or better review the Nikko guide to see the things we have to do today?
After a few minutes in our first class seat, something happens that lets us see that the beginning of the year is being very good, we could not have more luck today ... we have views of the Fuji from the train They take away the meaning!
Of course, we have some companions that practically occupy the entire window, so the photos have been rather dull.
We arrived to Nikko from Tokyo with a landscape of snowy mountains as a background and a splendid sun.
The first day of the year he smiles at us, but we haven't had breakfast yet, so the first thing we do is find a place to charge energy for today, which is the same as the whole trip to Japan, very complete.

Nikko station

We have the option of catching a bus in front of the Station Nikko, but since we want to go to breakfast before, we prefer to walk to the temple area.
As we move forward, we realize that today, being the first day of the year, all businesses open later and we will have trouble finding somewhere to have breakfast.

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But we are lucky to find one at the end of the street, where we believe are all the tourists who have come to spend the day at Nikko, where we ask for a couple of full breakfasts for 922 yen that reinforce us to follow the path until we meet the famous Shin-Kyo bridge.

Breakfast in Nikko

The Shin-Kyo Bridge It is the sacred red bridge that crosses the Daiya River and is a reconstruction of the original 17th century. Its location is famous for being the place where Shodo Shonin was dragged along the river, on the back of two snakes.

Shin-Kyo Bridge in Nikko

The atmosphere of today, first day of the year, is very quiet in Nikko and in the vicinity of the temples, but as soon as we get to Rinno-ji we get scared of the people we see in the enclosure.

Tails in Rinno-ji

Rinno-ji in Nikko

Restoration in Rinno-ji in Nikko

There is enough queue to get into Rinno-ji, so we decided to go up to take advantage of the time towards Toshogu, where when we arrive we find that there are more people still!

Toshogu Road from Rinno-ji

At this moment we confirm that this is going to be the tonic of today, so we go through the ticket office, pay 1300 yen per person for the entrance to Toshogu Shrine And we start with the visit.
The entrance to Toshogu Shrine in a huge stone torii, which as soon as you cross "warns" how spectacular you are about to see.

Toshogu Shrine

Torii of Toshogu Shrine

On the left there is a five-story pagoda originally from 1650 and rebuilt in 1818. It has no foundations but inside it houses a long suspended mast that swings like a pendulum and maintains balance in case of an earthquake.

Five-story pagoda of Toshogu Shrine

Toshogu Shrine

We are making different lines to get to all areas of the Toshogu Shrine, that today, as we said before, for being the first day of the year, they are full of people ...

Toshogu Shrine

The main sanctuary is entered through the stone torii, Omote-mon, protected on each side by the kings of Deva.

Kings of Deva at Toshogu Shrine

Upon entering are the Sanjinko, three sacred stores.
The imaginative reliefs of elephants that are on the top floor of the last warehouse, stand out for having a "somewhat strange" shape, which denote that the artist had not seen many elephants ...

Warehouses of the Toshogu Shrine

Reliefs of elephants in the warehouses of the Toshogu Shrine

To the left of the entrance, is the Shinyosha or sacred stable, a simple building that keeps a carving of a white horse.
The stable is decorated with allegorical reliefs of monkeys, such as the famous three wise monkeys, which show three principles of Tendai Buddhism.

Sacred Stable of Toshogu Shrine

Famous carving of the 3 wise monkeys in the Sacred Stable of Toshogu Shrine

Details of Toshogu Shrine

Next to the door, a sacred library stores 7,000 manuscripts and Buddhist books, which is closed to the public.
You have to pass another torii, climb another flight of stairs and to the left and right you will find the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower.

Toshogu Shrine

Toshogu Shrine Drum Tower

Then the Yomei-mon, door of twilight, with a dazzling decoration of bright gold leaves and intricate carvings of colors and paintings of flowers, dancers, mythical animals and Chinese sages.

Yomei-mon in the Toshogu Shrine

Details of Yomei-mon at Toshogu Shrine

After the Yomei-mon, on the right is Nemuri-Neko, a small wooden sculpture depicting a sleeping cat, famous throughout Japan for its plausible appearance.

Sculpture of the sleeping cat in the Toshogu Shrine

From here, Sakashita-mon leads to a path that climbs through the high cedars to the solemn tomb of Ieyasu.
To see Ieyasu's grave and cat sculpture, we have to pay 520 yen more per person.

Cedar Avenue leading to the Tomb of Ieyasu. Toshogu Shrine

Tomb of Ieyasu. Toshogu Shrine

The truth is that we have spent time flying and when we have looked at the clock we have seen that it is already 12.30 in the morning.

Views of the Toshogu Shrine Pagoda

On the one hand, meeting so many people is something that can be overwhelming, at least for us who are accustomed to traveling in low season and do not usually meet many people.

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But on the other hand, we find that we have the opportunity to see the customs and celebrations that are made in Japan in New Year It is a privilege.
After this visit to Toshogu, we continue our journey, this time heading to Futarasan.

Charms of the year at the Futarasan Shrine

The current building of this sanctuary was founded by Shado Shonin in 1619, making it the oldest of Nikko.

Fire to burn the amulets of the year at the Futarasan Shrine

We begin to notice that this little sleep is beginning to make a dent in us and we are more tired than previous days. We must remember that today we have only slept 3 hours and we have already had a good early morning on the days of Trip to Japan.
After the visit to Futarasan we go back on our steps to go straight to Rinno-ji, which is the temple we have left to visit in Nikko.
Rinno-ji It is under restoration until 2020, but we have to say that it totally deserves a visit inside.
On the way we pass through the food stalls that are installed these days in the temples and take the opportunity to chop different things to kill the hunger of noon.
And how could it be otherwise, all are great!

Food stalls in Nikko

Skewers of meat for 500 yen

Trying the meat skewers in Nikko

Food stalls in Nikko

Chicken for 500 the big one and 300 the little one.

Fried chicken in Nikko

Bananas with dessert chocolate for 300 yen.

Chocolate Bananas ... Great !! Nikko

All great! Eat on the street in Japan It is a pleasure for the senses.
We did not plan to eat in the street, but we have started to snack and the truth is that we can already say that we have made our lunch.
With a full stomach we go to Rinno-ji Temple where we pay 400 yen per person to access.

Rinno-ji

This one from the Tendai sect was founded 1200 years ago by Shodo Shonin and the pillars of the current building are made with about 360 meters of Japanese elms.
As the Rinno-ji Temple It is in restoration, they give you the option of being able to see it from the heights, something that the truth is, the less curious and why not say it, a unique opportunity to see something of these characteristics.

Views from Rinno-ji from another perspective ...

When we finish the visit to Rinno-ji, we see that it is already after 2 in the afternoon, so we end today in Nikko and we decided that it is time to return to Tokyo.
We will not lie if we say that if we have to choose, Nikko It has been the most expendable escape we have made so far.
We intuit that it has had a lot to do with not being 100% for having slept a few hours and the number of people we have met in all visits.
And also the factor of telling that we have come to know Kyoto, something very difficult to overcome ...
We have a shinkansen from Nikko to Tokyo reserved for 16.44 in the afternoon, but let's skip it and try to take another one before to get to Tokyo.
And we couldn't have left the day, without having any anecdote in Nikko.
Going down to the station we have stopped a man, a woman and a girl asking us questions in English about what we think Nikko, its temples, Japan…
We have begun to talk about the city and suddenly it has released an Ipad starting to teach us things about Nikko.
He has even taken out some postcards with a crane made of origami and he gives it to me saying that it is a gift…
We have continued talking until he puts on the Ipad a translation program in Spanish and he repeats some sentences and asking us how to say some words in Spanish.
The thing is progressing without knowing very well where and we are in a hurry to catch the train that we see that we are going to lose for a few minutes, but of course, how are we going to cut the conversation of this family that is so involved.
After 20 minutes, when the conversation we see that it does not give more, we tell him that we are very sorry, but that we have to go and that is when he shows us a page in Spanish on the Ipad.
Our surprise face is a poem, it shows us a page of Jehovah's Witnesses!
Start explaining to us that they are ... and although it tastes bad, we try to cut the conversation a bit even if we take a brochure that they give us about their religion and we promise that we will read it.
And after saying goodbye and although we have to run to the station, we miss the train to Utsunomiya for only 5 minutes.
So now it is time to wait for the one that leaves at 15.20 in the afternoon, by platform number 1 and arrives at Utsunomiya at 16.45 in the afternoon, by platform number 4 from where we will take the shinkansen at 16.57 by platform 5. Hyperdia It is the best invention in the world !! 😉

Train from Nikko to Tokyo

But we arrived in Utsunomiya with time to catch the shinkansen to Tokyo from 04.04 pm that we had booked, so we hit a race and with 5 minutes we changed the platform and arrived in time to catch it.
We have just won 30 minutes on the first day of the year.
And on the way and farewell of our last shinkansen of Trip to Japan, we see a sunset over the awesome Fuji!

Sunset over Mount Fuji from the Nikko train to Tokyo

Today would have been a perfect day to be at the Tokyo Tower and have enjoyed this impressive spectacle of nature.
We get off at Ueno, a stop ahead of schedule, to take the Yamamote line to Akihabara, where we have decided to spend the last hours of the day, to enjoy the neighborhood in the evening, something we have not yet seen.
And as soon as you leave the station Akihabara, open mouth again!
There are some places or neighborhoods that have to be seen day and night and we strongly advise that this "double visit" be made.

Just arrived in Akihabara !!

Lights in Akihabara

Cars you can see in Akihabara

Since we are in Akihabara, we take the opportunity to enter some places of "little machines" and pachinkos, where we have the opportunity to see the great hobby that there is to this type of premises.

Akihabara stores

Akihabara

Details of the places you can find in Akihabara

We take this opportunity to make some (or many) photos of the streets with the lighting and atmosphere of the first day of the year.

Akihabara

After 6 pm we return to the Yamamote line to go to Shibuya where we want to go to meet the famous Shibuya 109.
Travel in winter in Japan, allows you to enjoy after the sun hours of streets and shopping centers.

Hachiko in Shibuya

Shibuya 109

After a couple of hours in the area of Shibuya, enjoying both shops and the environment, our bodies begin to ask us for some dinner and especially for some rest.
So today we have to have dinner soon and since we are in Shibuya We took the opportunity to dine on the famous “Sushi Zanmai” chain, which is in several places of Tokyo.
Upon entering they give us a table on the second floor and after giving us a letter and a paper where we can write down what we want (a style to the 100 Spanish Montaditos), we ask for 12 varieties of sushi, a plate of tempura plus water, for 2900 yen

Interior of Zanmai Sushi

And we do not eat well ... if not luxury!

Sushi in Zanmai. Very good !!!

We have just had dinner and it is almost 10 at night and now we need to rest if or if. It has been one of the most complete days, enjoying Nikko from Tokyo, so we return to our metro line and almost without standing and without knowing very well how we arrived at the Hotel Horidome Villa.
Today I think we will not have time or dream, although we close our eyes thinking about the day we spent in Nikko from Tokyo ...