This weekend we took another trip, this time to Yamadera Temple in Yamagata Prefecure.  It’s a famous holy site because it houses a 1100 year old flame in a Buddhist temple brought from a big temple in Kyoto, which was brought from a temple in China, and it’s been burning all this time.  In fact, the temple in Kyoto had been destroyed in a war, and the flame from Yamadera was used to relight that flame when the temple was rebuilt.  The main flame is deep inside the temple to keep it safe from wind and the elements, so unfortunately we didn’t get to see it.

It’s also a very beautiful place, it’s built on the side of a volcanically formed mountain, and there are all these Buddhist carvings in the rocky formations.  It also has many temples built on the rocks which give an awe inspiring view with the mountains in the back ground.  Sadly though it was raining when we went, so the mountains were not quite as visible as I had hoped for.  But there were pretty with the clouds all hazy around them.

The only bad part was that since it is on the side of a mountain is there are literally a thousand steps. XD  1105 to be exact.  It was quite a trek up, but thankfully there were lots of places to stop to take a picture or a breather.  There were a lot of people there Saturday too, and pretty much everyone was using a umbrella, which made navigating around people very challenging. XD  I was afraid I was going to poke peoples eyes out with the tip of my umbrella, and I kept poking K in the head with it while I was trying to use the camera. XD



Steps and more steps XD

Aside from the steps, it’s a really nice place.  To quote Eddie Izzard, “it’s got this aaAAaaaAAAaaahh  kinda  feel to it.” It also has a really fresh mountainy and tree-ey smell that’s always so relaxing.  ^^

Oh, these also this story about when the town and temples were founded.  There was this rich lord who was going through the area now know as Yamadera and was awestruck at the natural beauty of the area, so decided to have temples and shrines built there.  There was a famous hunter living in that area already, and who me the lord one day in the woods.  The lord told the hunter of his plan to build the temples.  But the lord also said that he’d like to keep this place a safe and sacred place so he’d like no more hunting on the mountain side, and even though the hunters livelihood might suffer he agreed because honoring Buddah was more important.  When he said that a bunch of animals from the area walked into the clearing where the men where discussing, and danced for them because they were happy they weren’t going to be hunted anymore.  ^^

I like that story, and that picture is from a little book I picked up while I was there.  I’ve got a couple of little story books, 1 because I like the stories, and 2 because they’re written in furigana, which is when they write hiragana next to the kanji so that little children can read the books too.

This guy has an interesting hat.

These are seals attached to the underside of a roof of an archway that’s also a temple.

These are candles and incense that can be bought and used at the temples or taken home for at home shrines.

This is where you burn incense; I’m not entirely sure on which incense you burn for the departed, and which you burn to wave some of the smoke on yourself and to inhale in order to cleanse yourself to go pray. I think the single small sticks are for the departed, and the bundles are for yourself, but I could be wrong.

These are little charms and souvenirs sold to help pay for the maintenance of the temples. Some of the charms are to be attached to the inside of your car for protection, while others are cell phone or key chain charms.

These are statues of Basho, a very famous wandering poet.  He wrote a famous haiku about Yamadera:
Silence and penetrating into the rocks — the cry of the cicada.

These are little Buddha status that you can buy and place at shrines to appease the souls of the departed. The particular shrine these are for is a shrine for children that have died. You can tell which ones are for children because they will have pinwheels and little toys at them.


These are from the top most and most holiest temple. This is where the flame is kept lit, and generally the point of the trek up the steps is to come here and pray. It’s kind of weird wandering around these temples with everyone is taking pictures. Because to us in Western society, when we think of holy we think of churches, and most wouldn’t appreciate people wandering around a church during a sermon taking pictures. XD But Shinto and Buddism are very different from most Western religions.

This is the temple at the bottom of the mountain, where the trek begins. At the center front of the hall is a big wooden Buddha, that if you donate a hundred yen you can rub it. I’m not sure if you rub it for luck or make a wish, but it’s is well polished from all the people who have rubbed it over the years, its so polished its almost soft feeling (yes, I rubbed the Buddha’s belly ^^.)

I signed this post up for the SanrioTown Travel the World event - http://blog.hellokitty.com/traveltheworld