To the right of the path, a fast-rushing river, blue and white, sped through a secluded gorge, breaking into rapids over dark rocks and tumbling over the occasional waterfall. To the left, a long line of timeworn Buddhist statues sat with their backs to a steep wooded bank, inviting passers-by to share their contemplation.

道路的右边，一条湍急的河流带着蓝白色的波浪，飞速流过一处隐秘的峡谷，在暗黑的礁石上撞出破碎的激流，并飞越偶尔形成的瀑布。道路左侧，一长串古旧的佛像背靠陡峭而林木茂盛的河堤，吸引过客前去分享自己的沉思冥想。

Someone had been here. Many of the statues were dressed in red knitted hats and cloth bibs, and some held little piles of one-yen coins, left as offerings, in their moss-covered laps (at last! a use for this smallest of small change). But there was no sound other than the river, and no one in sight.
以前一定有人来过。许多雕像都带着红色针织帽，身穿棉布罩衣，有的面前还堆着日元硬币组成的供奉，摞在雕像覆满青苔的大腿上方（这些最小的零钞终于有点用处了）。但除了涛声以外，这里几乎没有任何声响，也没用任何人迹。
This serene glen, Kanmangafuchi, which in English goes by the forbidding name of the Kanman Abyss, is in Nikko, the temple town of the great shoguns. Tour buses roll up to Nikko's dazzling shrines — Japan's most lavish and elaborate — and re-enactors stage grand annual processions on its 400-year-old avenues. But Kanmangafuchi, a secondary attraction that doesn't make it onto most day trippers' agendas, is hidden and magical, a key to understanding why the shoguns built their monuments in this place and why Buddhist monks had put down roots hundreds of years earlier. Here, by the Daiya River, it was easy to feel the magnetism of the steep verdant hills, waterfalls, hot springs and volcanic mountains. Throw in a taste for the mystical, and Nikko would be a perfect place to seek enlightenment — or to enshrine yourself as a god.

这座幽静的峡谷就是日光市(Nikko)的憾满之渊（Kanmangafuchi，英文名Kanman Abyss）。日光是多位幕府大将军的神社所在地，旅行巴士爬坡上山，通向那些庄严的神庙——它们是日本最华丽最精致的庙宇，这里400年的古道上目前正举办每年一度的庆典。但憾满之渊作为不太热门的目的地，并没有成为一日游旅行者的常规造访地点。它位置隐蔽，氛围奇幻，这也是幕府将军在这里建立神社以及佛教僧侣数百年前就在这里扎根的原因。在大谷川(Daiya River)的河边，面对瀑布、温泉、火山和峻峭且布满密林的山陵，很容易感受到这里的魅力。带有神秘气质的日光，是寻找心灵觉醒或将自己当神来崇拜的绝佳地点。

An easy two and a half hours north of Tokyo by train, Nikko is a small mountain town at the edges of both a cultural Unesco World Heritage site — the 126-acre Tokugawa shrine complex — and a 443-square-mile natural reserve, Nikko National Park. The combination pulls in Japanese tourists by the millions. Yet relatively few Western travelers seem to be among the crowds, even though the list of those who have made the trip stretches back to Ulysses S. Grant, who arrived in 1879. Those who do come here often sign up for day trips organized by Tokyo-based tour companies, giving them enough time to see some high points of the intricate shrine art and architecture and not much else.
从东京乘坐火车，两个半小时就能到达日光。这个小巧的山城两边都是美景，一边是联合教科文组织认可的文化遗产、面积126英亩的德川家族神社(Tokugawa shrine)，另一边是443平方英里的自然保护区日光国家公园(Nikko National Park)。这种组合吸引了大量的日本旅行者。但西方游客相对较少。在来过这里的为数不多的西方人中，最早的一位是1879年造访此地的尤里西斯.S.格兰特(Ulysses S. Grant)。现在来日光的游客，大都选择参加东京出发的一日游旅行图。一天的时间足够欣赏神社的精美艺术和建筑，但没有时间探索别的东西。
My first trip to Nikko, 20 years ago, was in winter, when the clear mountain air was crisp and new snow dusted the emerald branches of the 100-foot-tall cedar trees. Against that backdrop, the brilliant red lacquer facade of Rinnoji, the central Buddhist temple, made an unforgettable picture — almost as vivid in memory as the shocking chill of an unheated wooden floor on feet covered in thin socks (since, of course, shoes must be removed before going in to bow before the 28-foot-gilded statues of Buddha and Kannon).
我第一次造访日光是20年以前的事了。那时正值冬天，山区的空气冷冽清新，新雪点缀着高达100英尺的墨绿色雪松。有亮红色涂漆外墙的轮王寺衬着这样的背景，形成一幅难忘的画面。这幅画面的冲击力，与穿着薄袜踩在冰凉木地板的感觉一样令人多年难忘（游客必须脱掉鞋子才能进入寺庙，并在28英尺高的佛陀和观音面前鞠躬）。
On a recent fall visit, I walked uphill toward the shrines on ancient stone steps, full of anticipation, and was hit by a jolt of surprise. At the top, I found myself looking not at the three-story-high Rinnoji temple, but at a full-scale painting of it on a giant white plastic wrapper. The temple was inside, undergoing restoration in a project that began in 2007 and will move from structure to structure around the treasures of Nikko until 2021.

在最近的一次秋季重游中，我沿着古老的石阶上山，心中对山路尽头的神社充满期待。但到达山顶的时候，我发现眼前不是三层楼高的轮王寺，而是它真实尺寸大小的一张照片，后面是一团巨大的白色塑料。真实的寺庙裹在塑料中，正在进行翻新。这次翻新工程从2007年开始，预计2021年结束，该工程会将日光市的所有景点都逐个修葺一新。

The restoration is not shutting down Nikko, I soon learned, or even this one temple. People were going up the still-exposed front steps and disappearing behind the wrapper, so I followed. Inside, one of the three tall statues of gods was missing, but the thousand-armed Senju-Kannon and the double-headed Bato-Kannon (a horse's head is atop its human one) were there and as inscrutable as ever. For the full effect, it's essential to walk as close to them as possible and look up. Their astonishingly lifelike eyes will look directly down into yours, not exactly menacing and not really friendly either, prompting thoughts about exactly what their intentions might be for your future.
但我很快发现，这次翻新并没有阻挡游客对日光市甚至这座寺庙的热情。人们来到仍然开放的庙前阶梯，然后消失在塑料包装的内部，我也跟着他们照做了。里面的三座大型神像少了一座，但千手观音和马头观音（人类脑袋上方有个马头）还在，依然和往日一样神秘莫测。为了更好地感受这种氛围，请务必走到神像跟前并抬头仰望。他们生动逼真的目光会直接进入你的灵魂，既不凶恶也不温柔，但发人深省，你会忍不住思考他们的目光对你的未来到底意味着什么。
Nikko's shrines and temples, as they now appear, date to the 1600s, when the Tokugawa shogun Ieyasu decided Nikko was the right spot for his mausoleum, signifying his ascension after death to godly status (as planned, he was posthumously named a Buddhist deity). However inflated his self-esteem, Ieyasu was no run-of-the-mill warlord. Defeating rivals in battle, he unified Japan under his rule in 1600, and the country never fractured again. He also moved the capital from Kyoto, leaving the powerless emperor behind, to the coastal town that he called Edo and that is now Tokyo, setting up a court there that quickly transformed the town from a tiny fishing village into a metropolis. Later in that same century, another Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu's grandson Iemitsu, assembled the country's greatest artisans and finest materials, commanded an outpouring of cash from the cowed nobility and did more building at Nikko.
根据建筑上的标识，日光的神社和寺院建于1600年代，那时候德川幕府(Tokugawa)的家康(Ieyasu)决定在日光建造自己的家庙，暗示着他死后将升天变成神佛（他死后，人们确实根据他的计划将他命名为一个佛教神祇）。尽管德川家康非常自负，但他并不是个普通的军阀。1600年，他打败诸多敌手，将整个日本置于自己的统治之下，从那以后日本再也没有分裂。他还将首都从京都搬到了当时的江户（Edo，即现在的东京），将毫无实权的天皇抛在身后。他在江户设立朝廷，并迅速将它从小渔村建成一个大都市。后来，另一个德川家族的将军家光(Ieyasu)，也即德川家康的孙子，集中全国最好的工匠和最好的材料，胁迫贵族们出钱，在日光修建了许多建筑。
The two Tokugawas left behind enough artistry to occupy an admirer for days, and I found most of it on view with little intrusion from the restoration.

德川家这两位将军留下来的艺术品足够游客用几天的时间来欣赏，而且我发现几乎开放游览的作品都没有因翻新而遭到破坏。

There's a large Shinto shrine to the god of nearby Mount Nantai (shoes off, please, to go inside); ornate gates and big, scary statues guarding flights of steps up to the mausoleums of both grandfather and grandson; a walkway flanked by 100 large stone lanterns; a five-story pagoda; even a "sacred stable." Anyone looking for the familiar spare Japanese aesthetic will be disappointed. Elaborate, Chinese-influenced decoration is everywhere: gilding, metal work and, especially, intricate wood carving. It was the style of the time, a sort of Japanese Baroque, and Nikko is its highest expression.
那里有座巨大的神社，供奉的是附近男体山(Mount Nantai)的神灵（进入神社前请脱鞋）；华丽的大门之后，两侧树有威严雕像的石阶通向德川家祖孙俩的陵墓。走道两边有100多个大型石灯笼、一座五层高的宝塔，甚至还有一个“圣厩”。任何试图寻找常规日式审美的人都会失望。到处都是精雕细琢、明显受中国影响的装饰：镀金、金属物件，尤其是工不厌精的木雕。这正是当时的艺术风格，相当于日本的巴洛克，而日光的艺术品是这种风格的极致体现。
Isabella Bird, the Victorian travel writer whose books kept her English audience rapt, wrote in "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan": "The wood-carving needs weeks of earnest work for the mastery of its ideas and details." I didn't want to stay that long, but I understood her reaction. The carving is in 3-D: brightly painted wooden friezes of flowers and plants; cranes, peacocks, dragons, elephants; and the Three Wise Monkeys (See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil), a charming and famous piece that everyone stopped to gawk at. A group of 9- or 10-year-old schoolchildren with bright yellow hats (billed caps for the boys and small rain hats for the girls) were especially appreciative but seemed to have even more fun running up and down the moss-edged steps where their handlers soon led them.
英国维多利亚时代的旅行作家伊莎贝拉·伯德(Isabella Bird)曾以自己的游记作品让许多英国读者如痴如醉。她在《日本少有人走的路》(Unbeaten Tracks in Japan)中写道：“制作一件木雕需要好几个星期的专注工作，以及对主题和细节的深刻把握。”我不想在这里停留太久，但我非常理解她的反应。木雕都是立体的：涂了鲜艳油漆的木头，雕成各种形状：花朵、植物；仙鹤、孔雀、游龙、大象；还有《三只灵猴》（分别代表非礼勿视、非礼勿听和非礼勿言）。这件艺术品非常漂亮，几乎每个游客都会停下来仔细观看，一群10来岁学生组成的旅行团戴着明黄色的帽子（男生戴鸭舌帽，女生戴小型雨帽）对此尤为感兴趣。当然，当领队将他们带到生有绿苔的石阶时，他们对于在台阶上跑上跑下表现出了更多的热情。
Nikko is a great place for exercise. On this trip I walked all day for two days, exploring museums, gardens and a downtown with souvenir shops and a public hot-spring bathhouse. (Buses are available for those who want to walk less.) Like everyone else, I took pictures of the crescent-shaped red Sacred Bridge over the Daiya River that is Nikko's signature image.
日光是健身的好地方。这趟旅行，我连续两天都在奔走，探索了多家博物馆、花园、市区几家纪念品商店和一家公共温泉浴场。（不希望整日步行的人可乘坐公共汽车）像其他人一样，我特意拍摄了日光的地标景点，大谷川上朱红色的弯月形神桥(Sacred Bridge)。
I wandered in the tatami maze of the sprawling 100-room Japanese-style Imperial Villa, now a museum, where Akihito, Japan's current emperor, was sent for safety by his father, Hirohito, during World War II. You can see the entrance to a bomb shelter in the gorgeous garden. (It wasn't needed. Nikko and its treasures were never bombed.) The villa, built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is near the Kanman Abyss, and the emperor Taisho, Akihito's grandfather, wrote a stylized poem about walking there and getting his sleeves wet from the rapids' spray. The poem is inscribed on a stone monument at the gorge, one of several such literary monuments in Nikko.
我在田母沢御用邸复杂的榻榻米迷宫里徜徉。田母沢御用邸面积庞大，有100多个房间，以前是天皇的离宫，现在变成了博物馆。“二战”的时候，裕仁天皇(Hirohito)出于安全原因，曾将皇子、当今的明仁天皇(Akihito)送到这里居住。优雅的花园里，可以看到一扇通往防空洞的大门。（这里当年并没有派上用场，日光及其珍贵的文化珍宝在战争中完好无损）田母沢御用邸建于19世纪末20世纪初，紧邻憾满之渊，明仁天皇的祖父大正天皇(Taisho)曾写过一首优美的诗歌，描述了在这里散步时衣袖被激流打湿的感觉。诗歌现在刻在峡谷里的某个石碑上，这样充满文化意味的石碑在日光有好几座。
Outside town is another experience, accessible by bus. A corkscrew of a road leads up to the alpine Lake Chuzenji and the high Kegon waterfall; along the way, monkeys inured to the slow-moving traffic sit in trees or run along the road, hoping to score a handout. And then there are the hot springs. In Japan, Nikko is almost as renowned for its nearby hot-springs resorts as for its shrine.
坐公交走出市区，会有另一种体验。曲折的盘山公路，会将人带到高山湖泊中禅寺湖(Chuzenji)和落差很大的华严瀑布(Kegon waterfall)。山路两边，已经习惯缓慢车流的猴子要么坐在树上观望，要么跑到马路上试图捕获游客分发的零食。然后是温泉。在日本，日光温泉几乎与那里的神社一样著名。
I stayed close to the shrine and retired at night to the Kanaya Hotel, an old European-style place where expats and diplomats took holidays from steamy Tokyo in the days before air-conditioning. The list of guests includes Eleanor Roosevelt, Indira Gandhi and Frank Lloyd Wright. When Ms. Bird stayed there in 1878, the building was a small guesthouse and the host was the original Mr. Kanaya. "I almost wish that the rooms were a little less exquisite," Bird wrote, "for I am in constant dread of spilling the ink, indenting the mats, or tearing the paper windows."
我下榻于靠近神社的金谷酒店(Kanaya Hotel)，一处古老的欧洲风格建筑。在空调发明之前，许多外国人和外交官都在夏天逃离湿热的东京，来此地避暑。曾经入住的名人包括埃莉诺·罗斯福(Eleanor Roosevelt)、英迪拉·甘地(Indira Gandhi)和弗兰克·劳埃德·怀特(Frank Lloyd Wright)。伯德女士1878年入住时，它还是个小客栈，主人是当地人金谷先生。“我几乎希望这里的客房没那么精致，”伯德写道，“因为我不断地担心自己打翻墨水、损坏地毯或撕破窗纸。”
Today's incarnation falls short of the "Japanese idyll" she described, but it is lovely, historical and beautifully situated on a slope almost directly above the Sacred Bridge. I found the Kanaya relentlessly European, but with a Japanese twist. The high-ceilinged corridors and my huge room, with an antique desk and view of a garden and a mountain peak, made me think of the fine old inns that still survive in the American Northeast. But here there were yukatas, the cotton kimonos for lounging that are common in Japan, laid out for the guests. Service was delicate and perfect, in the best Japanese style.
今天的金谷酒店已经不是她笔下的那个“日式田园诗”，而是优雅端庄、历史感十足，坐落在神桥几乎正上方的山坡上。我发现，金谷酒店非常欧化，但多少带着日本气息。我的客房面积阔大，走道有着高挑的天花板，但写字桌是古典式样，窗外可以看到花园和山峰，让我想起美国东北地区仍然活跃的古雅客栈。但这里还有供客人使用的和式浴衣——那是一种棉布制成的和服，适合居家穿着，在日本非常普遍。酒店的服务非常用心，堪称完美，一流的日本水平。
Dinner at the restaurant was a white-tablecloth and French-wine affair with steak on the menu and a "Downton Abbey"-worthy array of silverware at each place setting. Although the staff and all the other diners were Asian, there wasn't a chopstick in sight. Here, I thought, if anywhere in rural Japan, I might have a chance of getting a cup of decaf coffee after dinner. But the waitress, an older woman in a neat black dress who had up to this time anticipated my every desire, told me apologetically that there was none, and when I refused tea as a substitute, seemed genuinely stricken.
晚餐是在一家铺着雪白桌布、菜单上有法国美酒和牛排、每张餐桌上都摆着《唐顿庄园》(Downton Abbey)里那种纯银餐具的餐厅。尽管服务员和其他客人都是亚洲面孔，视野里却没有一根筷子。我觉得，唯一让这里感觉是日本乡村的是这样一件小事：餐后我想要一杯无咖啡因的咖啡。但服务员——一位身着优雅黑裙、年纪较长、一直在耐心满足我所有要求的女子，却满含歉意地说，这里没有无咖啡因的咖啡。当我拒绝了她以茶代替的建议时，她脸上顿时充满震惊。
I assured her that I could make do with water. But in a few minutes she reappeared, looking hopeful, with an offer: Could I take instant? I could. It arrived grandly — shining crystals in a stemware dessert glass — and proved to be the best instant coffee I had ever tasted. I smiled, she smiled, and all was well.
我对她说，给我一杯白水来也行。但几分钟之后，她重新出现在我面前，脸上充满希望地问：“速溶咖啡可以吗？”我说可以。这杯咖啡来得非常高贵：一只装甜点用的玻璃高脚杯里，咖啡闪着水晶般的光芒。这是我喝过的最纯美的速溶咖啡。我微笑起来，她也笑起来，万事万物如此美好。
IF YOU GO
实用信息
In Tokyo, get advice on touring the Nikko area from English speakers at the Tourist Information Center (TIC) in the Shin Tokyo Building in Marunouchi, 81-3-3201-3331; jnto.go.jp.
东京的旅游信息中心(Tourist Information Center; TIC) 有讲英语的工作人员，可提供日光旅游的建议。地址是丸之内(Marunouchi)街区的Shin Tokyo Building大厦。81-3-3201-3331；jnto.go.jp。
The privately owned Tobu train (81-3-3841-2871; www.tobu.co.jp/foreign), the easiest way to Nikko, leaves from the Tobu Asakusa Station, across the street from Tokyo's Asakusa municipal transit station. In Nikko, the Sacred Bridge and other tourist sites are within walking distance of the Tobu station; a bus makes regular circuits.
私人运营的东武火车（Tobu train; 81-3-3841-2871; www.tobu.co.jp/foreign）是去往日光最便捷的交通方式。起点是东武浅草站(Tobu Asakusa Station)，在东京浅草市区中转站的对面。东武火车在日光的站点距离神桥和其他景点都是步行可达。日光市内的交通可采用公共汽车。
The Two-Day Nikko Pass, available at the Tobu Station for 2,600 yen (about $26), covers round-trip train fare and buses in Nikko. Admission to the main Nikko temple and shrine is 2,200 yen. Small fees, 100 to 500 yen, are charged to enter some ancillary areas and museums. The shrine and temple complex is open daily year-round.
日光两日通票(Two-Day Nikko Pass)可在东武火车站购买，价格2600日元（约26美元），包括日光往返东京的双程火车票和日光公交车票。日光主要寺庙和神社的门票是2200日元。进入周边次要景点和博物馆时，可能需要支付100至500日元的小额费用。所有神社和寺院都全年每日开放。
Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa (81-2-8853-6767; japan-guide.com/e/e3808.html) and its garden are open daily year-round except on Tuesdays and holidays. Admission is 500 yen.
日光田母沢御用邸(Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa; 81-2-8853-6767; japan-guide.com/e/e3808.html)除了周二和节假日以外，全年每日开放。门票500日元。
To reach the Kanman Abyss from the Imperial Villa, exit from the garden to the side street, walk downhill and turn left. Take the first right onto a tiny street, turn right at the end and walk to the road bridge across the Daiya River. Cross it, turn right and follow the street along the river, heading upstream, through a small neighborhood. The trailhead is off a parking lot at the end.
若想从田母沢御用邸去憾满之渊(Kanman Abyss)，从花园走出，到达旁边的街道。接着步行下山，然后左转。接下来，第一个路口右转，走入一条小街，到尽头的时候右转，然后走向横跨大谷川的那座路桥。走到河对面，右转，沿着河边的街道向上游走去，走过一小片居住区。步道终点的旁边是个停车场。
The Nikko Kanaya Hotel (81-2-8854-0001; kanayahotel.co.jp) is reached from the Tobu station by an uphill driveway off Nikko's main street spine just before the Sacred Bridge. Prices vary by season; doubles from 17,325 yen.
日光金谷酒店(Nikko Kanaya Hotel (81-2-8854-0001; kanayahotel.co.jp)距离东武火车站不远。从日光的主干道出发，沿着一条上坡路走到神桥面前即可。房间价格因季节而异。双人房17325日元起。