Nikko

Nikko (nēk`kō), town (1990 pop. 20,128), Tochigi prefecture, central Honshu, Japan, in Nikko National Park. It is a tourist resort and religious center, famous for its ornate temples and shrines, dating from the Yedo period (1600–1868) and notable for rich coloring. Within the shrine of Ieyasu is the Yomeimon (Gate of Sunlight), perhaps the most beautiful gate in Japan. The park is noted for its mountain scenery, waterfalls, and cryptomeria forests. Nikko has Buddhist as well as Shinto shrines.

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Nikko

a town in central Japan, on NE Honshu: a major pilgrimage centre, with a 4th-century Shinto shrine, a Buddhist temple (767), and the shrines and mausoleums of the Tokugawa shoguns. Pop.: 17 527 (2002 est.)

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Nikko 

a city in Japan, in the central part of Honshu Island, in Tochigi Prefecture. Population, 29,000 (1970). Situated in the Nikko National Park, the city is a health resort and a center for international tourism.

Nikko has a wet, monsoonal, maritime climate. The winters are mild, with an average January temperature of 2°C; the summers are hot, with an average August temperature of 24°C. The annual precipitation is 1,400 mm. Persons suffering from functional disorders of the nervous system and from chronic respiratory diseases are treated in Nikko. There are sanatoriums, hotels, and various other tourist facilities.

Nikko arose around a Buddhist monastery, which was founded in the eighth century. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries it was a burial place for the feudal rulers of Japan—the shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty. Nikko’s architectural monuments include the Futaarasan Shrine (founded in the eighth century), the Toshogu Mausoleum of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (17th century, rebuilt several times), the Daiyuin mausoleum of the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu (17th century), and the temple of Rinno-ji (17th to 19th centuries).