Nikko’s World Heritage Site Explained: Two Shrines, One Temple and a Forest of Cedars
UNESCO inscribed the Shrines and Temples of Nikko in 1999. What the 103 buildings are, who built them, and why the cedars around them count as part of the site.
The Shrines and Temples of Nikko, in Tochigi Prefecture, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999, at the 23rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Morocco. The site is made of two Shinto shrines and one Buddhist temple: Futarasan-jinja, Toshogu and Rinno-ji. Together they have 103 religious buildings, including nine National Treasures and 94 Important Cultural Properties.
The mountain on which they stand was already a place of worship in the Nara period (710-794). Futarasan-jinja is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan; its history goes back to the first religious sites at Nikko, established in the eighth century, and it is a sacred place for followers of Shugendo, the mountain ascetic tradition. Rinno-ji, the Buddhist temple, is the successor to Shihonryuji, founded by the mountain ascetic Shodo Shonin (735-817). It now has 15 sub-temples.
The third part, Toshogu, is the best known. It is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867. Ieyasu was enshrined at Nikko after his death in 1616. Toshogu is known for its ornate architecture and for its many carvings of auspicious figures, and UNESCO lists it as one of two mausoleums in the Gongen-zukuri style, with 42 buildings on the site.
What the Committee valued was the combination: a unique blend of architectural and artistic skill integrated into a natural landscape, a strong influence on later Japanese architecture, and an expression of the Shinto values of balance and harmony with nature. The buildings are surrounded by giant Japanese cedars, some hundreds of years old, and the old-growth trees planted in the early seventeenth century form a cultural landscape with the buildings. UNESCO puts the property at 50.8 hectares, with a buffer zone of 373.2 hectares.
Fire is described as the greatest threat to this timber architecture, and the site is equipped with alarms, hydrants, lightning arresters and fire brigades. Nikko has attracted foreign visitors since the nineteenth century, partly because it is easy to reach from Tokyo. The Visit Nikko site describes the World Heritage area as reachable by the dedicated World Heritage tour bus from Nikko Station or Tobu-Nikko Station; check the official sites for current routes, opening times and tickets.
Sources
UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; Web Japan, Japan Up Close; Visit Nikko.
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