Wood Carving Center

Right next door to Nikko Park Lodge is the Woodcarving Centre, a special place where the cultural heritage of this area is preserved by keeping the wood carving practice alive. For a few hundred yen, families can try their hand at wood carving using traditional Nikko tools. Make an ornate mirror for your mother or, maybe carve an image of the famous three monkeys on a wooden plate as a Nikko souvenir.

The center is also home to a traditional wooden shoemaking workshop as well as a wood carving museum where you can see some of the incredibly intricate designs craftsmen have created over the centuries.

The tradition of wood carving stems back to when the temples were first built and this national treasure and museum is protected by the Tochigi Prefecture and Japan government.