夏の積乱雲と、その直下の雨模様。
栃木県高根沢町から、日光市方面を撮影しました。
バイクでの旅は、自然の雄大さを感じられる瞬間が多いですね。

The Yomeimon Gate at the Nikko Tosho-gu shrine. We arrived towards the closing time of this shrine and yet this gate made me stand and stare at the gorgeous detail of the artist's work. Very symbolic of the beautiful Japanese history. The cherry on the cake was that beyond this gate, we could walk up to the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, someone who I admire and had read about so much before arriving in Japan.

冬の晴天
日光中禅寺湖が濃い青色に染まってました。
季節や時間帯毎に違った表情を見せてくれます。
何度訪れても飽きさせない魅力たっぷりな名所です。

栃木県奥日光湯の湖の冬絶景
冬季に凍る湖面と温泉が流れ込み凍らない湖面の
境界が見事でした
こんもり積もった雪の塊もなぜかホッコリします
未来に残したい風景です

華厳の滝 編

雪が降った次の日の滝。
こんな滝も美しい。

1月13日。親孝行旅行。【栃木編】
父と母に初めて旅行をプレゼントした記念日。旅館に向かう途中で東照宮に寄りたいというので改装された新しい東照宮に行きました。
途中まで晴天だったのに到着した途端に、
大雪。本当に寒かったけど、こんなに素晴らしい東照宮が見れて幸せでした！
両親が喜んでいる顔が見れて、幸せな一時でした！

日光エリアの滝を散策している時に道中静かな渓谷があったので立ち寄った場所です

While walking around the waterfalls in the Nikko area, I came across a quiet valley along the way, so I stopped at this place.

錦繍を迎えたいろは坂

こちらは、栃木県日光市にある
「いろは坂」
毎年紅葉の時期になるといろは坂渋滞が発生するほど人気スポットです。

山一面が黄金色に染まり、別世界を見せてくれます?

Knowing the unknown. A little unknown waterfall can be seen from the Akechideira ropeway basement. The waterfall is surrounded with very colorful leaves which makes the whole atmosphere very scenic.

This heavenly beautiful road is situated in nikko. The road is surrounded by the a very vibrant autumn forest. It was taken from Akechideira ropeway in nikko. It truely represents the scenic beauty of Japan.

透け通るもみじ
「日塩もみじライン」
ツーリング途中に見つけた紅葉。
とても綺麗で思わず、立ち止まってしまいました。

日光、中禅寺湖の紅葉です。
湖面にも映ってとても透明感があり
美しい光景でした。

大きなアジフライと紅葉??

こちらは、日光市にある「湯滝」

下からの眺めは、まさにアジフライのよう?
画角に収めるのも一苦労でした。

見頃 10月中旬〜下旬
撮影地 日光市 湯滝

奥日光の名爆三滝
華厳の滝は大きな岩壁も迫力があり
大きめの構図で切り取りました。
綺麗な滝壺の虹も時には見れます

縦構図のため、クリックにてお楽しみください

前日光牧場から奥日光を望む
雄大な男体山は圧巻です！
紅葉と牧場と男体山、秋色の風景が大好きです。

栃木県日光市 川治温泉付近で撮った一枚です。

紅葉×東武鉄道のコラボです！

栃木県日光 川治温泉付近を走る東武鉄道です。

綺麗な紅葉と鉄道?

日光霧降ノ滝の紅葉

壮観な渓谷に落ちる霧降ノ滝

筑波山頂〜男体山の登山道です。
行った時の天気は曇でしたが、自然豊かな景色が見ることができて、良かったです。

栃木県奥日光温泉寺に向かう参道
並んだ灯篭に積雪が、
おそろいの帽子をかぶっているみたいです。
参道の途中から湯元源泉まで木道が続いてます。
木道からの景色も絶景です。

栃木県奥日光中禅寺湖からの夕焼け
今時の夕暮れに観れる絶景
真っ赤に染る夕焼け雲
まるで燃えているようで
寒さを忘れて見惚れてました。
何度来ても良い所

今年最初の奥日光
中禅寺湖の夕暮れを眺めてきました。
夕陽を映す雲に若干赤みかかった男体山は
雄大で見惚れてしまいます。
歌ケ浜駐車場より撮影

栃木県にある半月山展望台から撮った日の出を浴びる八丁出島?
ボートがいい感じ?‍♂️

天空の足湯にて。
標高2,000m、日光白根山ロープウェイの頂上駅。登山の疲れが癒されます〜
?iPhone13promax

Just some more photos to wrap up our trip to Nikko.

I took a bunch of photos of different monuments and buildings that seemed important or had lavish decorations.
I can't make out what the writing on the monument says but I can at least make out the kanji for heart (心).

I also liked the golden palanquins inside the the building in the forth photo, although I'm not sure if they were used at some point or are simply for decoration.

The other photos are from Futarasan Chugushi Shrine (二荒山中宮祠神社) located in front of Lake Chuzenji.
Unfortunately we didn't have time to go inside the shrine but I was at least able to take some nice photos of the torii gate.
Apparently it has a kagura hall as well and the entrance to Mt. Nantai is located inside the shrine as well.

And finally, just an assortment of food that I haven't posted yet.
All of it tasted great.
It was definitely a trip I'm never going to forget!

Some more photos from our trip to Nikko.

There were so many awesome monuments, landmarks, and buildings that it'd be impossible to fit it all into one post.

I was so glad that I had my mobile battery with me because I was taking so many photos that I was just burning through my battery lol.
I really liked how the incense burner looked and I tried looking up how old it was but I wasn't able to find anything about it, only the one in front of Tokugawa Ieyasu's burial site.

I would have liked to use the chozuya as well, but unfortunately it was closed off due to covid.
I also liked seeing the sake barrels as well as they always brighten up shrines.

The "Ippon Toro" lantern was interesting as well.
I'd never heard of Empress Tofukumon'in before either, so it gave me some interesting things to read about Japan's Edo Period.
Apparently she helped rebuild prominent temple in Kyoto and collected art and pottery from famous artisans of the time and even those of the past.

Some buildings I'd have to look at a map to know their names but there was definitely no shortage of decorations.
Unfortunately we weren't able to take photos inside some of the main buildings, but a few of them had ceiling paintings done by famous painters.
Many of them were birds, and I'm not an expert, but I think they were mostly cranes and they were all really beautiful.

Took a trip out to Nikko, Tochigi over the three day weekend and had an incredible time.
The purpose of the trip was to celebrate my girlfriend's sister's college graduation so we wanted to make it as memorable as possible.
I don't have enough room to fit this into one post so I'll post the rest throughout the week.

We started out from Tokyo and had lunch somewhere Nikko Toshogu Shrine.
I'm not sure if Yuba is a local specialty but it seemed like literally every single restaurant in the area was selling it so I'm assuming that was the case.
It was my first time trying it and it was pretty interesting I guess you could say.
It tasted alright with the soy sauce and radish but I think I prefer normal tofu instead. Either way it was a nice experience.

After eating we headed out to Nikko Toshogu Shrine nearby and man was it amazing.
Everything was so lavishly decorated that I couldn't stop taking photos.
The pagoda was incredibly beautiful as well and the snow covering the Nikko area made everything even more beautiful.

I was lucky enough to get a really nice shot of the corridor full of lanterns while no one was walking through the area as well.
I also took a photo of the torii gate at the top of the steps as it had a very strong presence and signaled the end of the long journey up the steps to reach the inner shrine.

Unfortunately the main gate was undergoing repairs so it was completely covered in tarp and surrounded by staging so I wasn't able to get a photo of it, but I did get some really cool shots of the main shrine.

I tried as hard as I could to get some good photos of the grave of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and while I think the photo of the gate isn't bad, I think I'd need a better camera to get a good shot of the crane and his tomb.
That being said it was still really awesome to see.

After checking out the shrine we headed out to Kegon Falls and I managed to get some really nice videos and some decent photos as well.
I can't post the videos or I would.
It was really awesome seeing the icicles surrounding the waterfall and all of the frozen scenery as well.
Even just taking the lift down to the waterfall was an experience.
After we left the waterfall observation deck and went back up the elevator we got some suiton (水団, flour dumplings in soup) and shared it between the three of us as a light snack before dinner later that evening.
We also visited Lake Chuzenji and admired the scenery there for a bit as well.
We didn't spend a ton of time here so this photo was the best I could do.
I like that I was able to get the sign in the shot though so I can't complain.

After enjoying the view of the lake we headed to our hotel and ate dinner and had some wine.
The place we stayed at was called "Lamb Chop" (ペンション・ラムチャップ日光).
The food was great and service provided by the the owners was top notch, so I definitely recommend checking it out if you're looking for a place to stay in the area.

After dinner we headed back to our room and I was so exhausted I fell asleep almost instantly.

And that was the end of day 1! I'll post day two tomorrow since this post is getting quite long now!

日光東照宮陽明門 リニューアルして初めて訪れました。
パーツ全てに彫刻が施されていて、どれだけ時間と労力が掛ったのか?
想像に難くありませんでした。

栃木県日光市の日光連山、厳しい冬と広大な自然が圧巻

栃木県日光市『華厳滝』。