A craft born from a carver's spare time, and a 35-kilometer avenue of cedars.

Nikko-bori is said to have originated in the early Edo period, when woodcarvers gathered from across Japan for Toshogu's construction began carving for pleasure in their spare time. Its defining feature is a technique called hikkaki. While most wood carving pushes the blade forward, Nikko-bori uses a specially shaped tool called a hikkaki-to that is drawn toward the carver instead.

This pulling motion produces the flowing, curved lines that define Nikko-bori's look. Pieces are finished with a lacquer technique called Nikko-tsuishu, which brings out the natural texture of the wood beneath a glossy surface. The skills that once brought life to Toshogu's carvings survived the building's completion and live on today as a craft for everyday objects.

The delicate skin that forms when soy milk is simmered goes by the same pronunciation in Kyoto and Nikko, but is written with different kanji — a distinction that reflects a real difference in how it's made, not just spelling.

The same soy milk, the same basic process, and yet the two traditions cast the ingredient in entirely different roles — a supporting actor in one city, the star of the show in the other. Nikko's insistence on its own character for "yuba" reflects real pride in that distinct food culture.

The area around Toshogu is still lined, almost as it was, with the Nikko Cedar Avenue — recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's longest tree-lined avenue. Split across three road sections, its total length comes to 35.41 kilometers, with roughly 12,500 cedars still standing. It was planted by Matsudaira Masatsuna, lord of Kawagoe domain.

Masatsuna wanted to repay a debt of gratitude for having served Ieyasu from a young age. When other feudal lords donated gold and valuables to Toshogu after Ieyasu's death, Masatsuna alone offered cedar saplings instead. He was mocked at first by other lords for donating "mere trees," but is said to have replied simply, "wait and see how this turns out." Over more than 20 years, he and his son Masanobu kept planting. More than 350 years later, this avenue stands as a gift on a scale that far outlasts anything gold or silver could have bought — a story that doesn't fit in a guidebook's single line about "a fine tree-lined road."