Nikko 日光: Shinkyo 神橋 and Futarasan Jinja 二荒山神社

Car park with a scenery

We set out for Shinkyo Bridge (神橋, Shinkyō) after breakfast because when we got to the bridge yesterday evening, it was already getting dark.

Needless to say, we were easily distracted with the leaves colour in the car park and practically almost the whole way to Shinkyo.

This is just on the same road to Tokanso

Shinkyo ranked as one of Japan's three finest bridges. It stands at the entrance to Nikko's shrines and temples and said to be belongs to Futarasan Shrine.

We should've guessed that crossing the bridge cost a fee because otherwise, why would the bridge be so empty. To cross this sacred bridge, adults to pay ¥300, high school student ¥200 and elementary school students ¥100. Discounts applied for groups of 20 people or more. I was being cheapie and just took many photos of it.

If you are curious, here's how Shinkyo looks like at night. I personally think it looks better during daytime.

We walked to Futarasan from Shinkyo, a bit of an uphill trek.

Right at the entrance of Futarasan Shrine, there was an bamboo ring arrangement where a girl and a boy was walking around this bamboo ring, presumably for luck?

At time of visit, there was a wedding ceremony in session. We later saw the newly weds as well as many adorable children donned in kimono. A little girl even obliged to post for photo for us, complete with a peace sign of course.

Spot the bug

With that, we left Nikko and back to Tokyo, staying at Ikebukuro for the night.


Side note: Got to kick like a little motor boat!