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Nikko NP, Tochigi
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A stretch of the downhill First Irohazaka plays Godiego’s “Monkey Magic” through tire vibrations—a nod to nearby macaques and Tōshōgū’s Three Wise Monkeys. The sound-making pavement also helps suppress winter icing.
In 2023, all 48 curve signs got distinct local illustrations, replacing one repeated flower design. The sign for bend 15, marked “yo,” shows strawberries: 15 can be read as “ichi-go,” Japanese for strawberry.
A script-history twist: the classic iroha poem has 47 kana, but Irohazaka has 48 curve markers, ending with ん. The uphill Second road carries the first 20; the downhill First resumes at marker 21.
Irohazaka began as a mountain-faith route, not a sightseeing drive. Its beginnings are traditionally traced to the path Shōdō Shōnin took on his 782 ascent of Mt. Nantai, later followed by mountain ascetics.
Until 1872, women and horses were barred from this sacred approach to Mt. Nantai. Women could go as far as Fukazawa, where Nyonin-dō (“Women’s Hall”) stands; from there, they worshipped the mountain from afar.
The climb gains about 440 meters, so autumn color changes with elevation. Foliage shifts in stages along Irohazaka, turning the drive into a moving gradient of fall colors rather than one uniform burst.
Before separate uphill and downhill roads existed, signals at both ends of Irohazaka let traffic take turns by the hour. In 1925, a company founded by Kanaya Hotel widened the old route to 3.5 meters for cars heading to Lake Chūzenji.
The First Irohazaka opened in 1954 as Japan’s second full-scale toll road and its first prefecture-run project of its kind. The separate uphill Second road followed in 1965 as tourist travel shifted increasingly to cars.
Nikko’s streetcar once carried visitors to Umagaeshi, at Irohazaka’s foot; the line reached there in 1913. It closed in 1968 after the rebuilt road and growing car use drew travelers away from the tram.
