Japan Irohazaka Roads (44 km)
Nikko to Lake Chuzenji
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Why this ride
44 km from Imaichi to Nikkō, about 45 min of riding. On the way it passes Irohazaka hairpins and Akechidaira. The highest point is about 1,350 m. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Roadbook
- Nikko
start
Nikkō is the town beneath a World Heritage shrine complex, and for centuries it has been a place of pilgrimage. Toshogu, the great shrine of the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, stands in a cedar forest, covered in gold leaf and intricate carvings, including the famous sleeping cat and the three wise monkeys. The Rinnoji temple and Futarasan shrine complete the group, and together with the nearby red Shinkyo bridge they draw visitors from across Japan and abroad. Nikkō has fewer than sixteen thousand people, while Imaichi, only a short way down the valley, is larger and has more fuel and shops.
The saying goes, Never say magnificent until you have seen Nikkō, and it is a fair summary of the effect the place has. The shrines were built in the seventeenth century and are marvels of woodwork, lacquer and painted detail. The town lies at the foot of the mountains, with the Daiya river flowing through, and the forests around are thick with cedar and beech.
For riders, Nikkō is the start of the Irohazaka roads, two one-way winding routes that climb about 500 metres to Lake Chuzenji with a total of 48 hairpin bends, each marked with a letter of the old Japanese alphabet, the iroha. The roads were built in the 1950s, and the upward and downward routes are separate, so you climb one and descend the other. The tarmac is smooth, the hairpins are tight and well signed, and the road is usually busy with tourists, buses and other bikes. In autumn the foliage here is among the most celebrated in Japan, and traffic can be heavy.
Fuel is available in town and in Imaichi. In Nikkō, you can eat yuba, tofu skin, a local speciality that comes from the temple-food tradition, or soba noodles and grilled fish. The weather changes quickly in the mountains: mist, rain and cooler air often arrive on the plateau above. In winter, snow and ice can close the roads or require tyre chains. The best times are May to early June and mid-October, with fresh green or red leaves, and an early start to beat the buses.
- Irohazaka hairpins
scenic
The Irohazaka is the most famous road in Nikko, and one of the best known in Japan. It climbs from the town at about 640 metres to Lake Chuzenji at roughly 1,270 metres, in a series of forty-eight hairpin bends, each marked with a sign bearing one of the characters of the old Japanese alphabet, called iroha, which has forty-eight letters. The road is split into two one-way sections, with the original, built in the 1950s, carrying traffic down and a second, with twenty-eight bends, carrying traffic up, so you never meet oncoming vehicles on the corners.
The hairpins are tight, but the surface is good and the camber is generous, which makes the climb a joy on a bike. Rhythm matters, because the bends come fast, and the gradient requires you to use engine braking on the descent. Wet leaves and fog can make things slippery, and you should watch for monkeys, Japanese macaques, which sit by the road and sometimes wander into the lanes. Do not feed them, because they can be aggressive.
The best time to come is in October and early November, when the maples and birches turn red and gold, and the whole mountainside seems to be on fire. It is also the busiest, and traffic can crawl for hours, with queues stretching back toward town, so start at dawn. In winter, snow and ice often close the road to vehicles without chains, so check before travelling.
At the top, the Kegon Falls drop nearly a hundred metres into a gorge, one of Japan's three great waterfalls, and an elevator takes you down to a viewing platform at its base. There is also a ropeway at Akechidaira, which gives a panoramic view of the hairpins, the lake and the mountains.
Nikko itself has about sixteen thousand people, with fuel and plenty of food.
- Akechidaira
scenic
Akechidaira is a viewing platform above Nikko that exists mostly to show off a road. The road is the Irohazaka, a set of forty-eight hairpin bends that climb the steep slope from the town toward Lake Chuzenji and Oku-Nikko, and the name comes from the old Japanese alphabet, the iroha, which has forty-eight characters, one for each bend. The upper terminus of the climb is Akechidaira, a lookout at about 1,370 metres, reached by a short cable car, from which you see the zigzags below and, across the gulf of the valley, the whole of Lake Chuzenji with the great Mount Nantai standing guard behind. Kegon Falls, nearly a hundred metres high, drops into a gorge to one side.
The Irohazaka is actually two roads, since the climb and descent are on separate one-way carriageways. The older one, opened in the 1950s, carries the downhill traffic, and the second, which came a decade later, carries the climb. It means that you will meet no oncoming traffic on the bends, which makes it one of the more relaxed hairpin sequences to ride, though the bends are tight and the gradient steady, and the surface can be wet and covered in leaves in autumn. Speed limits are low and the police are present. Wild monkeys, Japanese macaques, sit by the roadside on the upper sections and should be left strictly alone, since they are used to being fed by tourists and can be aggressive when they think a bag has food in it.
Autumn is the main season, when the whole slope turns red, orange and yellow, usually in mid-October at the top and later lower down. It is spectacular but traffic can be extremely heavy on weekends and holidays, with queues stretching back through Nikko, so go on a weekday and start early. Fog is common, and in winter the road can be icy and snow tyres or chains are required.
Nikko itself, about eight kilometres below, is the other great draw, with the Toshogu shrine, the lavishly decorated mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the shogunate that ruled Japan for two and a half centuries. The complex and its neighbours are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and worth a day on their own. Fuel stations and restaurants are plentiful in Nikko, and local specialities include yuba, the delicate skin from soy milk, and soba noodles.
Fill the tank in town before the climb, since the road has no stations. The cafe at the viewpoint is a good place to get a hot drink and look out over the valley while you recover your nerve.
- Lake Chuzenji
finish
Lake Chuzenji lies at about 1,270 metres in the mountains above Nikko, and it was made by a volcano. Some twenty thousand years ago, Mount Nantai, a steep cone that now rises to nearly 2,500 metres on the north shore, erupted and its lava dammed the Daiya River, forming this long, clear, deep lake. The water is cold, even in summer, and it is stocked with trout and salmon, and the lake is surrounded by forest. Seen at dawn, with mist rising from the surface, it is a calm and lovely sight.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, foreign diplomats posted to Tokyo escaped the summer heat by building holiday villas on the shore, and two of them, the former British and Italian embassy villas, have been restored and can be visited. The sailing and rowing boats on the lake, and the old wooden hotels, recall those times. Utagahama, on the eastern shore, is a pleasant beach for a stroll, though the water is chilly for swimming, so the label's swim is optimistic unless you are brave.
Nikko has its great shrines and temples, particularly the Toshogu, the elaborate mausoleum of the first Tokugawa shogun, set among old cedars. The plateau of Senjogahara, to the north-west, is a wide marsh with walking paths and clear views of the surrounding mountains, and is worth exploring if you have time. The Kegon Falls drain the lake dramatically at its eastern end.
The ride up is by the Irohazaka hairpins, and the road along the shore is easy and scenic, with views over the water and the mountains. In autumn, traffic is heavy, with long queues, so plan for a very early start. Summer is cooler than the lowlands, and winter brings snow and ice, which can close the roads.
As a finishing point it is hard to beat: a mountain lake, a hot meal and a bath.