Nikko

The shrine is excessive by design. Gold leaf, polychrome carvings, and paint so vivid it looks wet — Nikkō's Tōshō-gū was built to overwhelm as much as to worship in. The mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shōgun who unified Japan, was designed to project power even in death. The surrounding forest provides the contrast: ancient cedar, cold rivers, and waterfalls that drop into gorges of volcanic rock.

Tōshō-gū was first built in 1617 and rebuilt on a far grander scale in 1636 by Ieyasu's grandson, in the deep-relief carving and rich colour that mark the peak of Edo decorative art. The three wise monkeys who see, hear and speak no evil are carved on the sacred stable here, and the sleeping cat above one gate is attributed to the sculptor Hidari Jingorō. Kegon Falls drops 97 metres into a mist-filled gorge, with a lift down to a platform at the base and a dozen smaller falls leaking from the cliff around it. Along the Daiya River the Kanmangafuchi path passes a line of some seventy moss-capped Jizō statues, some headless, all slowly being absorbed by the landscape. Nikkō National Park runs on into the mountains with volcanic lakes and hot-spring villages.