----------------------------------- Alessandro Sat Nov 04, 2006 10:12 am Re: [E] Dewa sanzan, temple lodging ----------------------------------- Welcome Savannah, here it comes, the last part about temple lodging... 245If you want to learn about Japanese religion, observe a Buddhist or Shinto ceremony, or stay in a wonderful, friendly place with an amazing atmosphere where you can really relax a have a good think, then stay at a shukubo and enjoy delicious shojin ryori (vegetarian food). Shukubo (temple lodging), can be find all over Japan. I went to Yamagata-ken and stayed at the Miyashita family shukubo. All the members were very nice with us really thanks them for everything. I have to say, it can be unusual for them to receive foreigners and even Japanese :) without any knowledge of Japanese religions. But they were very open-minded, helpful, and answering any kind of questions we had. Just at the beginning of the trek up to Hagura-san, you can find a little village with a lot of shukubo. I will add later information about how to go there, name of place, and all sort of useful things. The place we stayed at was a Shinto shukubo, but for example if you decide to go to Koya-san in Wakayama prefecture (read also the post by sanji about the mummies), you will stay in Buddhist shukubo. The food was interesting, based on vegetables and mushrooms (with a taste of meat). Here is a picture of the diner we had. 246 Various room with different size can be find in the shukubo from 4 people to about 50 people.　Also take care that if you go there with your girlfriend you will have to sleep in separate room. After a quiet night, we woke up early morning for the fire ceremony where they burn some stick of wood (we wrote our name previously on) to purify the people attending. Also during this ceremony, they put some paper over the fire and - with some kind of power the priest possesses - this paper will not burn. I still have the paper at my home; it was given to me after the ceremony as a talisman to protect my house from fire. Believe it or not but after 3 years still no fire occurred! 247 248 I really think that to stay in a shukubo is an interesting approach to understand the two main religions in Japan (Buddhism and Shinto). We were also lucky to go there during the low season; the ceremony, normally attended by 100 persons, was only for us. Here are the details of this shukubo : Name : Miyashita shukubo (宮下坊) Address : 山形県鶴岡市羽黒町手向２２３番地 Telephone : 0235-62-2371 Internet : www.syukubou.jp Hope you like this part, and I will try to post information on how to go there.