Nikko

We could not have asked for a better guide. Katsuyasu pointed out major landmarks, driving off the highway to take the old Nikko track, the narrow road passing through caverns of Japanese cedars.
After a long period of bloody civil war, the warrior leader Tokugawa Ieyasu established himself as shogun in 1603. Not surprisingly he was attracted to this peaceful place set amongst steep mountains and lush wooded greenery. Ieyasu ordered the erection of a mausoleum of the Toshagu Shrine at Mount Nikko where his ashes were to be deposited. For the next two hundred and fifty years the Tokugawa family ruled Japan and built similar shrines around this original that were dedicated to their rule. Toshagu (temple of the sun god of the east) became the focus of a cult dedicated to Ieyasu and shrines to him were duplicated throughout Japan.
The shrines at Nikko are different from those at Kyoto. The Nikko shrines are dedicated to warrior rulers. Wind and thunder are personified in fearsome statues and wall sculptures, a practice in building decoration adopted from China whose cultural influence was particularly strong during this era.
Too many wonders and too little time to take them in. For example, the so-called "all day gate" at the Toshagu Shrine where you could spend a whole day "reading" the stories depicted on it and the wooden house with skillful spacing of the timbers which expand and contract depending on the weather giving it a system of air-conditioning.
After lunch we drove further up the mountains along a treacherous winding road to a sheer cliff face where we rode an elevator, built into the mountain, down to the bottom of Kegan Falls where a little monument reminded us of the present ghosts of the many suicides who have leapt into its waters.
After a drive along Lake Chuzenji and a visit to another waterfall we sadly began the long drive back to Tokyo arriving at our hotel. We were worn out but well pleased with our adventures with Katsuyasu.