- A night at the temple. A tatami room, the rhythm of the house rather than the traveller’s.
- The monks’ cooking, learned before it is eaten. The okami passes on the making of shojin ryori, the Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, and then you sit down to it.
- The morning ceremony. At the temple, before anything else.
- The five-storey pagoda of Mount Haguro. A National Treasure, in the cedar forest, with a yamabushi monk of the Dewa mountains as guide.
- A cooking session with a farmer-chef of Shonai. You work the region’s produce before tasting it, from the first lunch on.
- The gardens of a zen temple founded in the 13th century. A matcha, a few Japanese sweets, and as long as it takes.
- A guide and a driver. From the first moment on the ground to the last.
Itinerary
Day 1 — From Tokyo to Tsuruoka
In the morning, the train leaves Tokyo station for Tsuruoka, four hours north. Northern Japan begins here. At the station, the guide and the driver meet you.
Lunch is a first encounter with the cooking of Shonai: a cooking session alongside a local farmer-chef, to discover and taste the produce of the region.
The afternoon is spent in the gardens of a Zen temple founded in the 13th century: a matcha, a few Japanese sweets, the calm of the gardens. The guide then takes you to the temple where the night will be spent.
In the evening, the night is spent at the temple: the okami passes on the preparation of shojin ryori, Buddhist vegetarian cooking, before dinner.
Day 2 — Mount Haguro, then the return
The morning opens with the ceremony, at the temple. Then a yamabushi monk of the sacred mountains of Dewa guides the visit to the five-storey pagoda of Mount Haguro, listed as a National Treasure.
Past the gate, the stone stairway drops towards the bridge, then climbs again under the cedars: two thousand four hundred and forty-six steps to the summit, of which only the first stretch is walked here.
The pagoda stands a little higher up, at the edge of the path, alone in the forest.
A quick lunch near the station, before parting from the guide and the driver at Tsuruoka. Northern Japan ends here.
The train heads back to Tokyo, four hours, and the night is spent there, according to what follows in the trip.
Our addresses
The night is spent in a temple (shukubo), in the heart of the mountains of Dewa: a tatami room, vegetarian cooking shared with the okami, the morning ceremony. An immersion in the life of the temple rather than a night at a hotel. The address is settled with you.
Travel times
Tsuruoka is the way in: the Sea of Japan coast, on the western side of Tōhoku. You come from Tokyo with a change at Niigata, or from Sendai on the road across the mountains.
| Journey | Time |
|---|---|
| Tokyo ↔ Tsuruoka | around 4h |
| Niigata ↔ Tsuruoka | 2h |
| Sendai ↔ Tsuruoka | 3h30 |
Door to door: from Tokyo, the Jōetsu shinkansen to Niigata, then the Inaho express along the coast — a single change. From Sendai, a mountain coach runs through to Tsuruoka without a change. The guide and driver take over at the station: the forty-five minutes of road to the foot of the stairway are part of the side trip.
Good to know
- Two days accompanied by a guide and a driver, from the first moment on the ground to the last.
- The night at the temple calls for a certain simplicity: tatami, vegetarian cooking, the morning ceremony. That is where the interest of the side trip lies.
- It carries on naturally to the island of Sado, for a run through northern Japan: from Tsuruoka, train to Niigata (2h) then hydrofoil (a little over an hour). Linked this way, this side trip tightens to a single night at the temple.