A Temple In The Mountains

Hello Readers!

To update you by cell phone email may be expensive but in this case it is 100% worth the cost.

First let me update you all on our day so far… Stayed in Kurashiki last night but arrived in the dark so didn’t have a chance to see what the buildings around the town really looked like. When we got up this morning and finished gorging on the gourmet buffet (ok by Japanese standards it was fairly common food but still!) we went for a walk to find the old part of town we heard existed, little did we realise it was just across the street!

Just crossing the road was like stepping back a few hundred years in time! Hell New Zealand hadn’t even been found by Cap’n Cook and these buildings had already been being used as warehouses and shops for years! What a seriously cool place!

After spending most of the afternoon looking around this town, we got in the car and headed for this amazing place we are in now. It took us the better part of three hours to get here, maybe even closer to four with how bad the traffic was. After driving on straight and boring highway for a while the road eventually wound into the misty and cold hills. After driving through the mountains and out the other side we started to find ourselves rather in the middle of no where! Wondering if the navigation system was going the right way, we followed the route it showed and wound back into some different mountains.

First the road narrowed down to a single treacherous lane before ending completely at a large old wooden gate house. After calling the place we got picked up from the gate and drove down into the dark valley.
I haven’t even seen this place in the daylight yet but I can tell you the awe inspiring majesty of this special 400 year old temple, is amazing!

Looking out the open slider door from my bed on the floor, I can see a light shining on the five story pagoda through the trees, I can hear frogs croaking and wildlife all around, and I just had another banquet sized meal!
The name of this place escapes me at the moment but I will look for it in the morning.. If you ever visit Shimane and like a bit of tranquility, the likes of which are only found in historic peaceful religious p,aces, then definitely spend a bit extra to stay here. I didn’t even mind that the food was 100% vegetarian and I shouldn’t squish the bugs.
I promise I’ll post some photos when I next have Internet access but there’s just no way they will do this place justice.

For now, good night. Going to get up at 6am to wander the gardens.