is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the city's population was 80,239, in 36,531 households. The population density was 55 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Nikkō is a popular destination for Japanese and international tourists. Attractions include the

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

of ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

at the Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine, and that of his grandson

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who acted as his political adviser and was at the ...

(Iemitsu-byō Taiyū-in), along with Futarasan shrine, which dates to the year 767. There are many famous ''

onsen In Japan, are hot springs and the bathing facilities and Ryokan (inn), traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 ''onsen'' establishments use naturally hot water ...

'' (hot springs) in the area. Elevations range from 200 to 2,000 meters. The Japanese saying " – with meaning splendid, magnificent, or satisfied – is a reflection of the beauty and sites in Nikkō.

Geography

Nikkō covers a vast area (1,449.83 km²) of rural northwestern Tochigi, approximately 140 km north of

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and 35 km west of

Utsunomiya is the capital and largest city of Tochigi Prefecture in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 513,584, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Utsunomiya is famous for its ''gyoza'' ...

, the capital of

. It is the third-largest city (by area) in Japan, behind Takayama and

Hamamatsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In September 2023, the city had an estimated population of 780,128 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, with a population density of over the t ...

. Both the Watarase River and the

Kinugawa River , is a river on the main island of Honshu in Japan. It flows from the north to the south on the Kantō plain, merging with . At 176.7 km in length, it is the longest tributary of Tone-gawa. From ancient times, it has been known to cause flood ...

pass through the city. Lake Chūzenji and the Kegon Falls lie in Nikkō, as does the Nikko Botanical Garden. The city's many mountains and waterfalls have made it an important source of

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

. The area has been used for mining

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

and

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

. The weather in Nikkō is fairly similar to that of the northern island of

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

, even though Nikkō is much closer to

than Hokkaidō. The elevation of Nikkō plays an important role in this fact. It will usually get cooler as one ascends the mountain. The average temperature of Nikkō is around 7 °C (44 °F) with the warmest months reaching only about 22 °C (72 °F) and the coldest reaching down to about −8 °C (17 °F).

Surrounding municipalities

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

* Hinoemata * Minamiaizu

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

* Katashina * Midori * Numata

* Kanuma * Nasushiobara * Shioya *

Climate

Nikkō has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Dfb''). It has warm summers, and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Nikkō is . The average annual rainfall is . September is the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Nikkō was on 8 August 2018. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 15 March 1984.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Nikkō has declined over the past 20 years.

History

established the temple of

Rinnō-ji is a Tendai Buddhist temple in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi, Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. History The site was established in 766 by the Buddhist monk Shōdō Shōnin (735–817). Due to its geographic isolation, deep in the mountai ...

in 766, followed by the temple of in 784. The village of Nikkō developed around these temples. The shrine of Nikkō Tōshō-gū was completed in 1617 and became a major draw of visitors to the area during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. It is known as the burial place of the ''

. A number of new roads were built during this time to provide easier access to Nikkō from surrounding regions. Nikkō Tōshō-gū, Futarasan Shrine, and

now form the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

'' Shrines and Temples of Nikkō''. During the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, Nikkō developed as a mountain resort, and became particularly popular among foreign visitors to Japan. The

Japanese National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

began service to Nikkō in 1890 with the Nikkō Line, followed by

Tobu Railway is a Japanese commuter railway and ''keiretsu'' holding company in the Greater Tokyo Area as well as an intercity and regional operator in the Kantō region. Excluding the Japan Railways Group companies, Tobu's rail system is the second longes ...

in 1929 with its Nikkō Line. Nikkō was incorporated as a town in 1889, part of Kamitsuga District, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. It was upgraded to city status in 1954 after merging with the neighboring village of Okorogawa. In 1999, 103 structural sites encompassing the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō were inscribed on the

UNESCO World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

. In March 2006, Nikkō absorbed the neighboring city of Imaichi, the town of Ashio from Kamitsuga District, the town of Fujihara, and the village of Kuriyama, both from Shioya District, to create what is officially the new and expanded city of Nikkō. The new city hall is located at the former Imaichi City Hall. The former Nikkō City Hall is now known as Nikkō City Hall-Nikkō Satellite Office.

Government

Nikkō has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city legislature of 24 members. Nikkō contributes two members to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Tochigi 2nd district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

Nikkō is heavily dependent on tourism to its historical and scenic sites and hot spring resorts. Hydroelectric power production, food processing, and the non-ferrous metals industry are also important components of the economy. Nikkō has been recognized by Japan's Office for the Promotion of Regional Revitalization ( Kishida Cabinet Secretariat), which promotes the development of new technologies to combat depopulation, for its "high standard" of

digital transformation Digital transformation (DT) is the process of adoption and implementation of digital technology by an organization in order to create new or modify existing products, services and operations by the means of translating business processes into a d ...

telework Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from or at home, WFH as an initialism, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of working at or from one's home or another space rather than from an office or workplace. The pract ...

infrastructure. Related projects have been awarded over ¥19.1M in government grants.

Local attractions

Hear speak see no evil Toshogu.jpg, Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil True Light Church, Nikko 20130812.jpg, , built 1916 Tobu World Square St Peters Basilica 1.jpg, Tobu World Square Moden depiction of ninja with ninjato (ninja sword).jpg,

Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura is a Japanese cultural theme park in the Kinugawa Onsen area of Nikkō, Tochigi. The park resurrects and showcases the life and culture of the Edo period. Edo Wonderland spans a site area of 122.3 acres (49.5 hectares). The park's design is ...

* Cedar Avenue of Nikko *

(historical theme park) * Futarasan Shrine * Jizō Bosatsu statues on the Kanman Walk. A little out of the main city, locals often tell visitors to count the statues while walking, and to recount while walking back. The number is often different, fueling a legend amongst locals. * Kanmangafuchi Abyss is a place that was formed from the lava from the eruption of Mt. Nantai * Lake Chūzenji * Nikko Botanical Garden * Nikkō Tōshō-gū ** The

three wise monkeys The are a Japanese pictorial Maxim (philosophy), maxim, embodying the proverbial principle "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". The three monkeys are * , covering his eyes * , covering his ears * , covering his mouth. Lafcadio Hearn re ...

("See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil") * Tamozawa Imperial Villa * Shrines and Temples of Nikkō ( Nikkō Tōshō-gū, Futarasan Shrine, and

) *

** Shōyō-en Garden ** Taiyū-in Mausoleum * Nikko is well known for its monkeys that walk around the town in the winter looking for food.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

– Nikkō Line * - - - Tōbu Railway – Tōbu Nikkō Line * - - - - Tōbu Railway – Tōbu Kinugawa Line * - - - - - - - - Yagan Railway * - - - - - - -

Watarase Keikoku Railway The is a Japanese railway line connecting Kiryū Station in Kiryū, Gunma and Matō Station in Nikkō is a Cities of Japan, city in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city's population was 80,239, in 36,531 households. The population de ...

* - - -

Highway

* – Yaita IC, Yaita-Kita PA * – Kiyotaki IC, Nikko IC, Imaichi IC, Dosawa IC, Osawa IC * * * * * * *

Sports

Nikkō is the home city to the Nikkō Ice Bucks in the

Asia League Ice Hockey Asia League Ice Hockey (; ) or ALIH (AL) is an association which operates a professional ice hockey league based in East Asia, with teams from Japan, South Korea, and formerly China and Russia. The league is headquartered in Japan. At the end of ...

. Nikkō Kirifuri Ice Arena hosted the Women's

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the I ...

(Division I) in April 2007. There is also a

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skat ...

oval.

Education

Nikko has 23 public

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s, 12 public

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

s and three combined public primary/middle schools operated by the city government. The city has three public

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s operated by the Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped. High schools: * * *

Notable people

* Akio Fukuda, politician * Tomikazu Fukuda, politician *

Masaru Ibuka Masaru Ibuka (井深大 ''Ibuka Masaru''; April 11, 1908 – December 19, 1997) was a Japanese electronics industrialist and co-founder of Sony, along with Akio Morita.Kirkup, James"Obituary: Masaru Ibuka," ''Independent'' (London). December ...

, entrepreneur, co-founder of SonyKirkup, James
"Obituary: Masaru Ibuka"
''Independent'' (London). December 22, 1997. * Shoma Sato, professional baseball playerShoma Sato Japanese Leagues Statistics
, Baseball-Reference.com.

Sister cities

Odawara is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

, since December 19, 1980 *

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, United States, sister city since February 7, 1993 *

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "Taiwan Prefecture, ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, friendship city since January 16, 2009

References

External links

Official Website
*
Nikko Tourist Association

Nikko Official Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikko, Tochigi Cities in Tochigi Prefecture