The area around Shichihonzakura is closed to vehicles to protect the cedars. The cedars towering above the stone wall seem even taller.
11:50 JST, May 29, 2024
Nikko Suginamiki Kaido (Nikko Cedar Avenue) is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s longest tree-lined avenue.
The name sounds like a single street, but it is not. Cedar trees line three roads for 37 kilometers: Nikko Kaido, Reiheishi Kaido and Aizu Nishi Kaido. These three roads converge in Imaichijuku, just before Nikko.
The Nikko Kaido – one of the five major routes of the Edo period (1603-1867) – is home to many famous cedar trees that are living witnesses to the city’s history, where the Tokugawa shoguns paraded when they visited the Nikko Shrine.
I walked around the area, aiming for 10,000 steps, to rediscover its charms and immerse myself in the mood of a traveler in the Edo period.
The cedar trees in Nikko were planted during more than twenty years of work by Matsudaira Masatsuna, who served three shoguns, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hidetada and Iemitsu, and donated them to the Nikko Toshogu Shrine.
The question is: why were cedar trees planted?
Hiroaki Fukuda of the Nikko Museum of History and Folklore, which has many exhibits on the cedar trees, said, “It is said that the cedar trees were suitable for the entrance to the Nikko Toshogu Shrine because people felt the divine spirit in the appearance of the cedar trees that grow to the sky.”
First, take a bus from Nikko Kaido, a six-minute walk from Imaichi Station on the JR Nikko Line or Shimo-Imaichi Station on the Tobu Nikko Line, to the Moritomo district, home to the famous cedar trees.
The district is home to the ‘sakurasugi cedar’, which literally means cherry blossom cedar, a tree in which wild cherry blossom seeds grow from a crack in the cedar.
There is also the so-called ‘Namiki Hotel’, just past the landmark of Shichihonzakura. The huge tree is called Namiki Hotel because the base of the tree has rotted, creating a cavity that can accommodate about four adults. Namiki means a row of trees.
The inside of the cavity is somewhat warm, perhaps because it is sheltered from the wind. It is impressive to see the shiny black bark on the inside, perhaps from bonfires that were previously lit inside.
The huge tree is called Namiki Hotel. It has a huge cavity surrounded by flowers.
This section of Cedar Avenue is partially paved, but most cars travel on the parallel National Highway Route 119, so walkers on the Avenue rarely see cars.
Traffic is also not a problem on this stretch because the avenue is one level lower than the national highway. The refreshing scent of the cedar trees almost made me forget that I was in modern times.
Where the line of cedar trees ends there is an intersection with Reiheishi Kaido, and Oiwake Jizoson (stone guardian deity) is at the point where the two routes diverge.
There is an anecdote that when shoguns visited the Nikko Shrine, a fence was built around the stone statue to prevent it from being seen, as the three-meter high statue was seen as distracting.
The seated stone statute of Oiwake Jizoson, said to have been made in the Muromachi period (1336-1573)
In Imaichijuku, which starts from this point, there are many miso shops and other long-standing shops. In addition, there are tourist spots such as those related to Ninomiya Sontoku, who devoted his later years to the revival of Nikko.
The cedar trees appear again in front of the Kami-Imaichi station. The ground under the trees turns to dirt, and on both sides the waterways used to draw water from the Daiya River to the inn area make a cool sound.
Along the avenue there are some places where only the base of seven cedars remains intact, and a cedar whose trunk bears, among other things, the scars of shells from the Boshin War.
There is also a continuous row of cedars that have no specific name, but have grown as tall and thick as a ten-story building.
The remaining tribes of the seven united cedars, called Shichihonsugi
The road extends about four kilometers from the sakurasugi cedar.
From here you can take a bus to Tobu Nikko station on the national highway.
If you return to the Imaichi area during a walk through Suginamiki Koen Park, you will walk about 7.3 kilometers and exceed the goal of 10,000 steps. In the park there is an old-fashioned water mill that was once used to make incense sticks.
It is said that about 50,000 cedar trees were planted in the beginning, but due to typhoons and other factors, the number was reduced to about 12,000, some of which died while still standing.
To combat the decline, there is a system of ownership of cedar trees. In addition, about 120 volunteers are registered to protect the trees.
Although I had driven past Cedar Avenue many times, this time I only learned much about it after taking the time to walk past it. I also felt a desire to protect this beautiful avenue of cedar trees.
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