4 Best Sights in Side Trips from Tokyo, Japan

More than anything else, the country's most famous falls are what draw the crowds to Chuzenji. Fed by the eastward flow of the lake, the falls drop 97 meters (318 feet) into a rugged gorge; an elevator takes you to an observation platform at the bottom. The volume of water over the falls is carefully regulated, but it's especially impressive after a summer rain or a typhoon. In winter, the falls do not freeze completely, but they still transform into a beautiful cascade of icicles. The elevator is just a few minutes' walk east from the Chuzenji Onsen bus stop, downhill and off to the right at the far end of the parking lot.

Falling water is one of the special charms of the Nikko National Park area, and people traveling from Toshogu to Lake Chuzenji often stop off to see these cascades. They descend in a series of seven terraced stages, forming a sheet of water about 30 meters (100 feet) high. About 1 km (½ mile) west from the shrine precincts, at the Tamozawa Imperial Villa bus stop, a narrow road to the right leads to an uphill walk of some 3 km (2 miles) to the falls.

If you've budgeted a second day for Nikko, you might want to consider a walk around the lake. A paved road along the north shore extends for about 8 km (5 miles), one-third of the whole distance, as far as the "beach" and campsite at Shobu-ga-hama. Here, where the road branches off to the north for the Senjogahara Marsh, are the lovely cascades of Ryuzu no Taki, literally Dragon's Head Falls. If you don't fancy retracing your steps, Tobu buses running between Yumoto Onsen and Tobu Nikko stop here.

A poetic description says it all and still holds true: "The water," wrote the great 17th-century poet Basho, "seemed to take a flying leap and drop a hundred feet from the top of a cave into a green pool surrounded by a thousand rocks. One was supposed to inch one's way into the cave and enjoy the falls from behind." The falls and the gorge are striking—but you should make the climb only if you have good hiking shoes and are willing to get wet in the process.