Nikko
Nikkō’s a Real Trip
Matías Ariel Chiappe Ippolito
translated by Andrea Rosenberg
日々旅にして旅を栖とす。
(松尾芭蕉)
“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”
–Matsuo Bashō, tr. Sam Hamill
I’d been told I should get in touch with Hideki, whom everybody calls “the sensei.” I thought I was prepared for my visit to the city of Nikkō—I’d asked a number of people and looked at a bunch of websites; I’d even acquired a tourism pamphlet about Tochigi Prefecture that I hadn’t gotten a chance to read yet. I knew about the surrounding area: Kegon Falls, the Shinkyo Bridge, Mount Nantai. I knew that the main attraction was the Rinnoji Temple and the shrines of Futarasan and Toshogu, the latter of which houses the tomb of Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first shogun of the Edo period. I knew I was about to … Read More »