東京から宇都宮経由で日光へ（中禅寺・湯元）

13. From Tokyo via Utsunomiya to Nikko (Chuzenji and Yumoto).

North-Eastern and Nikko Lines of the Imperial Government Railways.

91 M. Several through trains daily in 4½ hrs. For fares and other information consult the Rly. Time Table. Special excursion rates at certain seasons. The rly. to Utsunomiya is described in Rte. 18, p. 320.

A popular way of reaching Nikko is by motor-car (good roads; attractive country). The Kanaya Hotel will send a car down from Nikko for the trip, or the Imperial Hotel will supply one in Tokyo. Fares, etc., on application.

Utsunomiya, capital of Tochigi Prefecture and chief city of Shimotsuke Province, with 47,500 inhabs., was anciently the seat of the powerful Utsunomiya family, descendants of Fujiwara Michikane (955-995). A great-grandson of Michikane became a Buddhist bonze under the name of Soen, and was placed at the head of the Futaara Temple. The old castle was built by his son Munetsuna.

From Utsunomiya the rly. runs N.W. to (8 M.) Kanuma, where it turns N. and crosses a finely wooded country on a steadily rising grade. The magnificent Cryptomeria Avenue which parallels it for some distance leads brokenly to Nikko and terminates at the foot of the town. Travelers with ample time at their disposal sometimes alight at (21 M.) Imaichi, and walk the remaining 4 M. to Nikko beneath the lofty trees. Originally this fine avenue, the Nikko-Kaido, was 40 or more M. long, and stretched in an unbroken line past Utsunomiya to the mausolea, of which it served as a regal approach. It is said to have been planted by daimyos too poor to contribute money toward the erection of the mortuary shrines to the dead shoguns. Scattered among the cryptomerias are numerous Retinosporas, or 'Trees-of-the-Sun' (Chamaecyparis obtusa), the Japanese cypress (hinoki), a tree also cultivated in America. The iconoclastic peasantry have chopped down some of the noble trees for firewood, and besides making huge gaps in the avenue, they destroyed a mile or more of it to make way for their houses in Nikko. In many places it is as broken as the departed glory of the sovereigns in whose honor it was planted. The rly. approaches it several times before reaching the Nikko station, but its perspective is marred by frequent curves.

1 The Cryptomeria Japonica (Jap. sugi), one of the finest, most valuable, and most widely employed of the Japanese conifers, is to Japan what the giant Sequoia is to California, to which it has much similarity. There is but one species, and in England and America it is called the Japanese cedar. It is carefully cultivated in Japan, from slips and seedlings; chiefly from the latter. The tree demands a deep soil and protection against storms. It thrives best in a hot, dry climate, and is very sensitive to cold. It is a quick grower and when fully developed often measures 18 ft. in circumference, while the tall, perpendicular shafts raise their dark-green, regular, conical heads from 100 to 110 ft. in the air. It is much favored for temple groves and the avenues leading thereto. It is a marvelous wood-producer, the wood being brownish-red at the core, sapwood white, easily split, of agreeable smell, easy to work, durable in water, but also very brittle. From this circumstance it is not employed in bridge-building or work of a similar nature where sudden and violent strains are to be met, but it is widely used by the Japanese in the construction of their houses.