Shukubo (shrine stay)
This accommodation is directly operated by Nikko Toshogu Shrine, one of the most famous shrines in Japan. The site is vast, covering an area of 130,000 square meters, most of which is covered in scrub forest.
However, it is located about a 10-minute drive away from Nikko Toshogu Shrine, and there are not many elements of the building that give the impression of a shrine.
At the entrance there is a stump of a 700-year-old sacred tree.
The lobby is clean and tidy, just like a hotel. There were also many souvenirs related to Nikko Toshogu Shrine on sale. There was also free coffee service.
Guest room
The guest room was a 10-tatami Japanese-style room with a toilet, bath, and washbasin. There was a TV, a safe, a refrigerator, and a kettle. Towels, bath towels, yukata robes, toothbrushes, and razors were also provided.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate and is the deity enshrined at Nikko Toshogu Shrine.
His last teachings begin with the words, “Life is like a journey carrying a heavy burden.” It contained advice on how to live, such as thinking of anger as the enemy, blaming yourself only and not others, and that too little is better than too much.
Hot spring
Koyoen features hot springs. There was a noren (traditional Japanese fabric-dividers) hanging at the entrance with the words “Fukutoku no Yu” (This means Hot Spring of Fortune and Virtue) written on it.
Bathing is available until 12 midnight and from 5am to 9am. I went in before dinner and at 5am. There was no one else there in the early morning, so I had the bath to myself. It was a very luxurious experience. The alkaline simple hot spring made my skin smooth.
Dinner and Breakfast
Dinner is creative Japanese-style cuisine.
The main dish, teppanyaki, is beef topped with miso, and the flavor of the meat is very concentrated. A wide variety of local Tochigi sake is available. We finished off with matcha pudding, which had a perfect balance of bittersweetness.
Breakfast is a healthy Japanese meal. The menu included rice, miso soup with seaweed, pickled ume plums, grilled salmon, hot tofu, konjac, soft-boiled eggs, simmered dishes, hijiki seaweed, potato salad, mentaiko, seaweed tsukudani, natto, seasoned seaweed, and yogurt.
I had been in the hot springs since early in the morning, so I was hungry and ate a lot.
