National Park System Commemorative Coin No.10 Nikko National Park

JNDA#

This coin was issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the National Park System.
The 10th coin in the series features Mt. Chausu and Shinkyo Bridge.

Mt. Chausu (Mt. Nasu), located in Nasu Town, Tochigi Prefecture, is an active volcano with an elevation of 1,915 meters and is one of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains. The Nasu Ropeway provides easy access to the area near the summit, allowing even beginners to enjoy a leisurely hike with spectacular views.
Incidentally, the name “Mt. Nasu” is not the name of a single mountain, but rather a collective term (the Nasu Mountain Range) for peaks such as Mt. Chausu, Mt. Asahi, and Mt. Sanbonyari, which straddle Tochigi and Fukushima Prefectures. While “Mt. Nasu” may not be listed as a single mountain on some maps, when it is, it usually refers to the main peak, “Mt. Chausu.”

Shinkyo Bridge is a vermilion-lacquered wooden bridge spanning the entrance to the “Shrines and Temples of Nikko,” a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There is a legend associated with this bridge: in 766, toward the end of the Nara period, when the monk Shōdō was blocked by the swift currents of the Ōya River, Jinsha Daio(深沙大王 Buddhist protector deity) appeared and released two snakes—one red and one blue—which formed a bridge like a rainbow.

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