Day 7 (Part 1): Yamadera

For Day 6, click here.

Day 7 (Part 2): Shiogama will be coming up soon!

Day 8 will be coming up soon!

From Sendai to Yamadera 仙台から山寺まで

Today was probably the earliest day of my itinerary as I had planned to visit 2 different locations near Sendai that would both be a whole day trip each by themselves. Am very grateful for Kaoru-chan who had to meet me yawning at the west exit of Sendai station at 7am. ^^; From Sendai it's a 66 minutes ride on the Senzan Line to Yamadera, and the train takes you through hilly terrain and lush forested areas. Saw quite a lot of sakura trees in full bloom along the way too.

As always, an obligatory shot of the train interior at a new location, we managed to get seats, lucky!~ ^^

Cherry blossoms so pretty!

At Yamadera station

Really liked the wooden finishing and olden architecture of the train station ^^

Yamadera 山寺

Yamadera was founded over a thousand years ago in 860 as a temple of the Tendai sect under the official name of Risshakuji (立石寺). Its popular name, Yamadera, which literally means mountain temple is due to how the temple grounds extend high up a steep mountainside northeast of Yamagata city from which there are awesome views down the valley.

Yamadera is famous for their vegetarian options due to the proximity of the temples and this included handmade soba (手打ちそば) and also grilled potatoes (芋焼き)

This is a really pretty shot!~ Wallpaper worthy I would say. ^^

Located around the base of the mountain are several temple buildings, including Konponchudo Hall (根本中堂), Yamadera's main hall. The beech wood building is the temple's oldest and stores Buddhist statues and a flame that is said to have been burning since Yamadera's foundation. The flame had been brought from Enryakuji Temple (延暦寺) in Kyoto, the head temple of the Tendai sect, to which Yamadera belongs. Also around the mountain's base stands a small treasure house that requires an entrance fee that we did not pay to enter.

This leads all the way up to...

... the main temple building on the ground floor

Basho 芭蕉 (on the left) perfected the art of haiku, namely the concise 5-7-5 syllable form now written not just in Japan but around the world

Spotted a cute furry white cat just before we began our torturous (?) ascent. ^^;

We had to hike up a trail that leads up the mountainside to reach the upper area of the temple grounds where the scenic views were best experienced. The ascent takes about 30 minutes and begins after the Sanmon Gate 山門, located a couple minutes' walk from the main hall, where we each paid a token sum of 300 yen (about 4 SGD) to enter. The stone path up the mountain has about 1000 steps, which might make the approach difficult for some visitors. There are stone lanterns and small statues in the surrounding forest along the way that make for an atmospheric hike. We also passed by the massive and awe-inspiring Mida Hora cave (弥陀洞) which housed a giant Buddha.

Just slightly past the Mida Hora cave which was three quarters of the way up

A lovely view of the hidden interiors beyond the mountain cliff face you couldn't see from ground level

Must be really dangerous and difficult for them to make restoration works at such high and steep altitudes

A huge sense of achievement at the highest point (?) beyond Godaido ^^

Past Niomon Gate (仁王門) which was built in the 19th century, we were out in the open and could already see the valley sprawling outwards in the distance. One of the better views can be seen from Yamadera's most famous building, the Kaisando hall (開山堂) and the smaller adjacent Nokyodo (納経堂) building, but by pushing yourself just a little further and climbing up to Godaido (五大堂) hall you find yourself literally perched over the edge of the mountain cliff side with the best view of the valley below.

You could see the river stream to the bottom left of the picture where I took the wallpaper-worthy shot ^^

Liked how the snow-capped mountain range in the distance contrasted with the greener hills in the foreground

Kaoru admiring the scenery... at the same time she was shouting out her wishes across the valley, something to the line of "I want to get a boyfriend real soon!~" ^^;

Was difficult for us to get a good selfie with the background, so we challenged each other to take selfies with background. I won my snacks from Kaoru after this shot :D

Shouseido 商正堂
Address: 山形県山形市大字山寺4437

We headed down to grab a quick bite with Kaoru trying to conveniently forget her treat by distracting me with all sorts of nonsense on the way down. Since I had been eating western desserts such as parfaits and sundaes this trip, Kaoru recommended fried sweet red bean buns (揚げ饅頭) at Shouseido. The manjuus are fried on the spot after you order and there was a certain Japanese elegance to the surroundings that made it seem more like a home than a restaurant. We also decided to grab some spicy senbei and mock yakitori (the first time I had mock yakitori in my life!) on the way back to the station.

Would have bought some of the buns back as souvenirs but alas they spoil too quickly

Our little own private corner right by the river

The staff was very attentive in serving us hot tea for our manjuus... the manjuus were sweet yet not overly and sickeningly so, with a steaming warmth that really made you feel bubbly inside.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Is this Princess Masako? Kaoru says she's a member of the royal family but she herself didn't know who she was. ^^;

Forgot to snap a picture of the store's name ^^; it's along the way to the hiking trail from the station

The senbei was crunchy but somewhat too dry for my liking while the mock yakitori definitely did not taste anything like its meaty cousin
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

We had a bit of time before the next train arrive due to windy conditions which slowed down train speeds along the mountainous portions, so here's some more shots of the train station surroundings that I barely had a chance to see earlier in the morning. ^^

This was taken from the opposite side of the temples, you can see the temple building in the middle top. Really liked this shot as the train headed for Yamagata was just arriving across the river stream

One of the older track switchers I've seen that seems to be lever and pulley controlled

For a look at the beautiful coastal regions of Miyagi prefecture, click here (coming soon!)