The third stop on our travels around Touhoku was Yamadera in Yamagata. The train ride there really set the tone of the trip, as we rode through the mountains, seeing all sorts of wildlife, tress and water features. However, of course the most breathtaking view was once we were there. After hiking up over 1000 stone steps to the top, the sights were phenomenal. I think, possibly the best views we’ve ever seen.
We were quite surprised at the range of temples on the way up. Particularly it was surprising that there was a mixture of Buddhist and Shinto temples on the same grounds, each with their own rules. It was very interesting to read and learn about the intricacies of each. Sam and I bought our Goshuin book from here, as we’ve been looking for one and the design on the one here was stunning. It means these shrines will always be special to us, and will be remembered everytime we visit a different shrine from now on. For those who don’t know, Goshuins are special stamps that belong to each shrine. Calligraphy is written over the stamps to say the shrine or some sort of Buddhist or Shinto sentiment that is important to that location. I will take a photo of our Goshuin book and our current range of Goshuins which we collected on this trip and put them below, for anyone who would like to see them.
