Fun fun fun trip to Nikkou , Tochigi Prefecture

 

I went on an overnight trip to Nikkoin Tochigi Prefecture with my

family .  I visited  there for the first time in the last 30 or so years  

scince I traveled here as school trip and family trip when 

 I was a child.  My husband and children  took first time trip to Nikkou. 

 By the way,  I associate  Nikko toshogu ,Kegon WaterFall, Irohazaka ,

autumn leaves and Chinise dumplings with Tochigi Prefecture.

 

 

"Iroha Pass (Iroha zaka　/　いろは坂) "

 

 

We left our home midnight not to meet traffic jam, and got to our first

destination  about 6 AM  as scheduled.　Red leaves at Iroha pass is very famous.

 

My son is still sleeping.

 

Look at  the display  of my car navigation system.

Iroha pass is such a twisty and winding road

Lake chuuzenji (chuuzenjiko / 中禅寺湖）　

Senjogahara Marshland

 With the stone statues ,three monkeys, in parking lot behind a souvenir shop

"Ryuzu Waterfall" (Ryuzu no Taki/　龍頭の滝) ,which means dragon head waterfall

in Japanease. The very best season to visit here is  autumn leaf season.

Please enjoy the roaring sound of this waterfall, if you like.

 

 

 

What a excellent view!  This is   almost 100 meters tall "Kegon Waterfall

(Kegon no Taki/ 華厳の滝)", which is one of  Japan's three most  beautiful

falls , from the paid platform. Foutunately, we were able to see a fantastic

rainbow appearing  over the waterfall.

  Look at these  six pictures below taken   in Toshogu (東照宮）,

which Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine and the mausoleum of

"Tokugaa Ieyasu"(徳川家康）,  the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.

 

The Five Storied Pagpda

Toshogu's famous carvings "Tree monkeys"

 

 

Toshogu was enlarged into the spectacular complex seen today

by Ieyasu's grandson Iemitsu during the first half of the 17th century.

 

 

 

Yomeimon Gate( 陽明門）

It is designated as national treature. Especially,sculptures are remarkable

 

Karamon Gate

 

 

Near the hotel with my children and my cousin's children

We stayed  in "Kinugawa onsen(鬼怒川温泉）”,where is popular

 hot spring resort town along  Kinugawa River , near Toshogu

 with my cousin and her family. We met at the hotel in the afternoon.

 A Frying-squirrel  that my cousin has got. Its name is "Peach". She's so cute.

The following day, We first played at "Kinugawa River " its water is very cold, .

 We found some tadpoles there.

And then, We also went to a dude ranch ,and I felt relaxed there.

 

We slided along lawn with a sled.This was really fun.

Much faster speed than we expected excited us.

 

We parted sorrowfully  from my cousin and  her family here,

and headed for "futarasan Shrine"

The approch to Futarasan shrine

 

"Futarasan Shrine(二荒山神社）" was founded in 782 by ”Shodo Shonin”,

the Buddhist monk who introduced Buddhism to Nikko

The Taiyuinbyo is the mausoleum of the third Tokugawa shougun, Iemitsu,

"Niten Gate"

Main Hall (honden/ 本殿）

One hundred forty dragons are painted on the ceiling in Haide Oratory.

That was extremely excellant.

 

After visiting this gorgeous place, we directed our course toward  home.

I  had  happy ,exciting ,full time with my family and relatives during vacation.

 

I hope I could go to Nikko  in colored leaves season next. 

Good Luck!

During summer , my working hours is a bit longer than other seasons, so I am rather tired.

At this time ,  especially in August we have less flowers than other seasons

 in my garden. so that these showy flowers, This Rose of Sahron

(Hinomarumukuge) are very valuables. It is easy to grow and can tolerate 

intense heat and cold winter. All I have to do is prun well for shape in winter.

These orange fruit look like very cute, right?  I often used to play with the

orange fruit of Ground-Cherry when I was a schoolchild.

This picture of Chinese lantern plant  was taken on

June 28. The fruit were still green then.

I just tried to adorn our  entrance hall with the lovely bells .

 These typical summer fruit are present from my husband's acquaintance.

These were  very fresh and delishous.

Reacently I visited to Tokyo SkyTree, the world's highest broad casting

towerin the news, with my daughter and my parents again. This time we

climbed up two observation decks

This is the lower observation deck, which is 350 meters high.

 

This upper observatory  is 450 meaters high. Unluckily, the field of vision is

not so good because of  cloudy skies. We were not able to enjoy a panoramic

view of  the whole Kanto area, but had a great time .

We walked around big shopping mall called Tokyo Solamachi and  took a

short rest while eating  tasty crepes

I bought Soda Pop for my son as souvenir of SkyTree.

This is my son's homebuild computer. He overdoes a computer every day,

so that I am always anxious about that.

 My son's soccer team won the championship in the last prefectural tournament.

So that they can go on next round, Kanto tournament. He and his teammates

have been getting  along well since they were schoolchildren. FYI,

 the boy lying in the front row and the leftmost in the picture is my son.

I do hope they will win victory in junior high school national soccer tournament.

When you wish upon a lily.

I can get a lot of summer vegetables in my garden now. In Japan summer season

 is burning HOT and humid, but I would stand for the terrible heat for good

summer veggies.By the way, today I  attended a parents and child meeting with

their teacher for career guidance in junior high school.I'm always worried that

my two children is having a too much relaxing time in studying.

 I think they will need to make more effort for high school exam.

I like this pink lily which stands out from everyone.

This is “Japanese beautyberry”. 

Those flowers are followed by a lot of little purple berries

 

 These yellow flowers (I don't know it's name ) are very lovely,
but they are growing excessively soon, That is a little bit trouble
 for my small garden.

 Lovely "Salvia.microphylla HotLips"

 

 

 Cool light violet -blue "Aflican lily"

My favorite variety of tomato "AIKO"

Some  tomatoes, bell pepper,  fresh lettuce and Japanese Basil in my garden

Japanese Basil is often used as a green garnish in our recipe.

 This (rice with NATTO and fresh “Japanese Basil” ) is a summer standard

 menu at my home.

 

A cute butterfly is taking a brake in my garden.

These are our children’s works.  They are taking Calligraphy lesson once a week

after school. The first one was written by my son, and the meaning of each four

Chinese characters are  “mountain(山)”　”water〔水〕” “sunlight（陽）”"light（光）”. 

We  feel "The buties of nature" from it 

This one below was drawing by my daughter. these two caracters( 家族/kazoku）

 represents "family" I really love  these two works which the nice words are written,

so that hanging on the wall in our living room.

It is  really hot here every day. Everyone, please take precautions against heat stroke.

My Garden in June

Let me show you how my garden looks like now. My favorite roses

 have a lot of  green aphid  now. I have to spray on  this weekend.

This "Deutzia" tree is planted at the northern part of  my garden,

but it has lots of  lovely flowers every June.

I love this tantalizing aroma of "Philadelphus  Satsumi ".

This  is "Rose Campion", which white woolly foliage

and showy crimson are very charming.

"Bellflowers" ＆"Astilbe"

  The Bellflowers grow vigorously as well as the above Rose Campion

My favorite  "kalmia"

The color of bud is bright pink,and flower's color is pale pink.

This flower like a umbrella is pretty cute, I think.

 

I  cooked  saute with above spinaches and sausage and enoki

musharoom, last  sprincled with some pine nuts. I like it a lot.

Recently, my son went on aschool excursion to Kyoto. I heard he had

a lot of fun. This brings  back  old my memories which I visited to 

kyoto as a junior high school student. He had taken nearly 200 photos there.

Here  is a picture of Kinkakuji temple that  he liked it best during  the trip.

Kinkakuji was concerned in the 1390s as aretirement villa for Shogun

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. It is such a gorgeous and luxurious pavilion,right?

 

This is a Kiyomizu Tempuru where is famous for the magnificence of its

 height and view. I wish I could visit there again when the leaves turn red.

 

 These are souvenirs that was given by my son. It's for me and my husband .

They are the couple Chopsticks witten as" Long life"  and a stuffed

Deer with a rice cracker . We felt very happy upon receiving his presents.