3 Years in Sendai - 14 - Yamadera

 In The Zen Tradition; This was where the Big Boys Played.
YAMADERA!
When I arrived at the top og the steps leading into the main courtyard of the temple I felt like i was back in time when the wandering monks and Samurais used to visit these sites in order to attain some form of peace and tranquility, Yamadera was the ultimate retreat for the wayward souls like Matsuo Basho in his time. For me it was arriving in Mecca ( my final destination, Insha' Allah!). The awesomeness and serene presence of the place humbles one to the knees, like you are ready to make obeisance to  the Kami No Dera the Mountain Gods inhabiting the area.

1. "Yama-dera is about a twenty minute train ride northeast of Yamagata City, in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan at the foot of the steep hill Hōshū-yama. The temple is a nationally-designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site". Wikipedia

It was drizzling rain when i was strolling along the mountain paths of Yamadera and this added to its pristine freshness as the air was pure and the colors were fresh although these pictures does not do justice as they are about 19 years old to date. But these old pictures still evoke the melancholy I felt in my heart as i scanned the mountain sides filled with pine and small meditation holes in the walls, some with mats and some without. where monks most probably sat in meditation away from the main crowd. This was ZEN! in manifestation. I could have opted to live here if i had the chance to but my life had its own course yet to be fulfilled, then was not the time..

This mountain temple site was ancient by contrast to most of the temples in and around japan and it was home to many great Buddhist masters who passed through this area of Yamagata prefecture.  A poem I read in one of Alan watss writings came to mind, "I asked the boy where his master had gone." He pointed at the mountains and said, "My master has gone into the mountains herb gathering, clouds hidden, whereabouts unknown.!"

There is no doubt the life must have been very hard for those who had had the opportunity to live and do their practice here especially in getting food and so on and one cannot imagine what it must be like in winter.
Yamadera is easily accessible from Sendai city In 1 hour via JR Senzan line. This line is covered under the JR east pass and not very frequent. In Japanese, Yama means mountain, dera means temple. Put them together and you will have 
mountain temple. The temples were located up in the mountain, with pockets of small caves containing images of Buddha carved into the craggy surface. As usual with most of the great temples in Japan, the approach is never easy, about 1100 steps up. So wear sturdy and comfy footgear.
From a Review of the Site.

The mastery of carpentry and working with stone structures amazes me about the Japanese. They excel in constructing that which is endurable through the worse of weather and time and yet kept in tune with nature and its surrounding beauty, everything is in sync man and nature complementing one another. In the Distance i could hear the 'Han' being hit for the afternoon prayer and perhaps Zazen meditation of maybe it was chow time, or  Orioki time. The sound of wood hitting precisely on wood crakcs like a pistol shot echoing through the hills and mountains. Imagine this some two or three hundred years ago!

The site itself is an amazement to behold  making one wonder how it must have been to erect such a building overlooking into the chasm below, it must have taken a whole lot of guts and ingenuity.  As I stood looking sraight out at the mist covered mountains i felt melacholic and might have even shed a tear or two!

 I raise my hat to the Japanese when it comes to taking care of their natural environment.

O Basho Sama! You were one lucky Dude! You saw this place way back when, when there were no coffee machines available even up here.