Michelin Green Guide Nikko & North Kanto — Three-Star Nikko Tosho-gu and Oku-Nikko, and All 44 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 44 starred sights in Nikko and North Kanto

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

The 2015 edition makes Nikko and Nikko Tosho-gu three-star. Most of the stars attach to the World Heritage “Shrines and Temples of Nikko” — Tosho-gu, Rinno-ji and Futarasan — and to their carvings and buildings. The 2020 edition added new stars to the high country of Oku-Nikko. Nikko is about two hours from Asakusa on the Tobu limited express. One day for the shrines, another for Oku-Nikko takes in nearly all the stars; on a day trip, a tour that bundles Tosho-gu with Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji is the efficient option.

Three-star Nikko Tosho-gu — Yomeimon, the three monkeys, the sleeping cat

Nikko Tosho-gu is three-star in the 2015 edition. It enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the third shogun, Iemitsu, rebuilt it in the 17th century in the lavish form it keeps today. The Yomeimon — nicknamed the “sunset gate” because you could look at it all day — and the festival mikoshi are two-star. Restored in 2017, the Yomeimon’s white and gold carvings are startling.

The three monkeys (“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”), the sleeping cat at the path to the inner shrine, the Karamon, the front gate, the five-storey pagoda, the torii, the carved dragons, heavenly maidens and tigers, and the Tosho-gu Museum of Art are each one-star. Looking properly at the details takes two hours. There are slopes and stone steps throughout, so wear shoes you can walk in. A Tobu pass covering the return from Asakusa plus buses in the Nikko area keeps the transport cost down.

Rinno-ji, Taiyu-in, Futarasan and Kanmangafuchi

The 2015 edition gives two stars to Rinno-ji and its garden Shoyo-en, with the Sanbutsudo hall, its Amida and the treasure hall at one star. Taiyu-in, the mausoleum of the third shogun Iemitsu, is two-star too — more restrained in colour than Tosho-gu, with its Nitenmon, Yashamon, worship hall and Kokamon each one-star. Futarasan Shrine, its main hall and mikoshi house, and the vermilion Shinkyo bridge at the entrance to the precincts are one-star.

West of town along the Daiya River, Kanmangafuchi and the jizo statues lining it are two-star — the “ghost jizo” said to change in number each time you count them, on a quiet walking path about 20 minutes from Tosho-gu. The nearby Tamozawa Imperial Villa and its garden are one-star, and the 2020 edition added the Cedar Avenue Park on the old Nikko highway at one star.

Oku-Nikko — Kegon Falls, Lake Chuzenji, Senjogahara

Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls are one-star in the 2015 edition. It is about 50 minutes by bus from Nikko Station up the Irohazaka switchbacks to a lake at 1,270 m, where its water drops 97 m in a single fall. An elevator takes you down to a viewing platform near the plunge pool.

The 2020 edition added Nikko National Park and the Senjogahara hike, on boardwalks across the marsh, at two stars, with the Lake Chuzenji cruise, the former Italian Embassy Villa on the shore and Lake Yunoko beyond at one. Oku-Nikko is much colder than the town: bring a jacket even in summer. In autumn the Irohazaka jams solid, so start early.

Gunma and Saitama — the Tomioka Silk Mill, Mt. Tanigawa, Nagatoro

The Tomioka Silk Mill in Gunma was newly listed in the 2015 edition, with its brick buildings at one star. The Meiji government built this state-run filature in 1872, and it became a World Heritage site in 2014. The long reeling hall and warehouses — brick laid into a timber frame — survive largely as they were.

In northern Gunma, at Minakami, Mt. Tanigawa, reached by ropeway, is one-star. In Nagatoro, Saitama, near the rock-shelf gorge, Hodosan Shrine is one-star. Kusatsu Onsen with its famous yubatake, and Tochigi’s Ashikaga School and Ashikaga Flower Park, are listed without stars. All are day-trippable from Tokyo, but the connections are awkward on public transport, so a tour with a car is easier.

Naritasan Shinsho-ji, Sawara, and model routes

Naritasan Shinsho-ji in Chiba was newly listed at two stars in the 2015 edition. Founded in the 10th century, this Shingon temple has a wide precinct of halls and pagodas and an approach lined with eel restaurants. It is about 10 minutes from Narita Airport by JR or Keisei, which makes it a natural use of an arrival day or the hours before a flight. Nearby Sawara, with its old merchant houses along the Ono River, is listed without stars.

By JR it is about 50 minutes from Tokyo to Utsunomiya on the Tohoku Shinkansen, then 45 minutes on the JR Nikko line. The Japan Rail Pass covers that JR route to Nikko; the Tobu line does not.

Michelin Green Guide Nikko & North Kanto — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.