Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park — Attraction in Nikko

A delightful surprise. The imperial villa bridges a period from Edo, through Meiji and into the Showa. It was rebuilt and rennovated at various times. As such it is just a little more modern than some of the old temples, shrines, and residences but still built in a very traditional style with a traditional garden. E.g., it had electricity, but a very early form of wiring. You can see into the bathrooms, and they are beautiful hinoki wood spaces with wooden baths and squat toilets. There's also a billiards room with a modern table. But it still feels like supremely japanese. Also reserve some time for the small but beautiful garden that you can really wonder around in.

They open different parts of the building during different seasons. There are real exhibits on how it was constructed and what it looked like in different periods. We went on a public holiday and expected it to be crowded. But at 10:30am it felt very quiet compared to the more famous world heritage shrine/mausoleum area near by. We walked between them. There's also a generous car park at the villa which I would use instead of the main world heritage car park which had a 1km queue to get into it.

Well worth the modest...

It's not often that you can visit a home which has connections to the Tokugawa Shogunate, business man and the Imperial Japanese Family, Tamozawa Imperial Villa is all of this. Villa seems to be a little misleading as it really is a mansion and very beautiful, built in a similar way that Japanese shrines and temples are constructed "no nails"! Very well established interior courtyards and grounds! The Imperial Botanical Gardens just up the road, were once part of the Villa grounds! For a 600yen entrance fee, "wear clean socks" as no shoes are allowed, in fact you have to remove your shoes on the foot path outside the front entrance, you place your shoes in an open storage room just inside the front door, photos are allowed but some sections are cut off from viewing and there is a gift shop within the villa. Anybody going to Nikko should visit. The bus from the Nikko station stops near the front entrance. The wonderful people at Nikko Station Information Centre will be helpful regarding...

Beautiful and quiet place, a must see in Nikko. It might be a bit now crowded in spring since there's a huge Sakura tree, I've been there in Summer and Autumn and both times enjoyed it a lot.

The building is really well conserved, they used traditional techniques to keep it as it was when it was built. The gardens are very beautiful too, and quite big.

In total it will take from 2 to 3 hours to see everything if you take your time. They also have a small gift shop and guess in different languages.

This is the perfect place to visit on...