Cedar trees line the road into Nikko as if it were a cathedral nave. The Nikko Kaido avenue, planted over many years in the seventeenth century, runs for about thirty-seven kilometres and is counted among the longest tree-lined avenues in the world, and the trees are huge now, thick and dark, with a floor of moss. It makes a quiet start, and it sets the tone for the town, which is as much a forest as a religious site.
The shrines and temples that give the ride its name are the reason Nikko appears in every guidebook. Toshogu, the mausoleum of the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, was founded after his death in 1616, and the dazzling buildings you see today were mostly rebuilt on a grand scale in the 1630s under his grandson Iemitsu. Gold leaf, carved beasts, and the famous three monkeys cover every surface. Nearby are Futarasan Shrine, much older and much calmer, and Rinnoji, the temple that drew pilgrims to these mountains long before the Tokugawa arrived. The red Shinkyo bridge over the Daiya river is the traditional gate. It takes a couple of hours to see properly, and the car park and the gift shops fill by mid-morning, so arrive early or at the end of the afternoon.
For a rider the real prize is what lies above. The Irohazaka, with its forty-eight hairpins, climbs from the town to the lake at Chuzenji, one road for the ascent and another for the descent, and it is among the best-known mountain roads in Japan. The turns are numbered with the characters of the old iroha alphabet. The climb is steady and technical but not unfriendly, the surface is generally good, and the views over the valley get wide quickly. Kegon Falls, nearly a hundred metres high, drops from the lake just beyond. In autumn the entire slope turns red and orange, and every car in Tochigi seems to be on it that weekend, so aim for a weekday. In winter the upper sections can ice over and the road may require chains or be closed outright.
Nikko is a proper town of some sixteen thousand people, so there are fuel stations, restaurants and places to rest. Try yuba, the skin of heated soy milk, which is a local speciality served in many forms. This ride also touches the Arafune cold storage, a reminder that the clear mountain water here once made Nikko a centre for natural ice, cut in winter and kept for the summer, long before refrigerators existed.