After leaving Nara, we started driving toward Gyokuzoin temple as it was getting dark. We started making our way into the mountains, and we saw so many beautiful streams and trees. The road started getting narrower and narrower.
When the road got too narrow and overgrown, we realized we had mapped to Gyokuzoin temple, but there was another pinpoint we should have mapped to for meeting the monks that would take us to our place to stay. They told us to map to this other hotel, a hot springs hotel, but we thought this was the hotel that belonged to the temple. We were on a one-way, one-lane street after crossing a bridge, and the hotel directed us to use a parking lot a little ways back, in the shadow of the mountain. We looped back, parked, and then brought our stuff to the lobby of this hotel. But they had no record of us staying there.
When we showed them the message that Gyokuzoin temple had sent us, they were like “Ohhhh” and called them. Apparently Gyokuzoin was on the other side of the mountain, and it was easier for most tourists to map to the hot spring hotel. The hot springs hotel called the monks, and they said that they’d have someone waiting in the street to lead us to drive up to the temple parking lot. We got out of the parking lot and didn’t have to pay since it was within 15 minutes, lol. I can’t believe they make you pay for parking in a mountain town that’s 2 hours drive from any major city. One sedan was just chilling in the street across from the entrance of the parking lot, so we thought it was them. But they pulled away too quickly to be the ones we were looking for. Then there was a large white unmarked van that came by, so we thought that it must be the one. The guy in the van was bald and Japanese, exactly what we thought a monk would look like.
We followed him for a few seconds around a bend on the mountain, back the way we had come. But then he stopped, got out of the van, and talked to us. He first was like, “why are you following me” but then we said, “Oh the people in the hotel told us to follow you. You’re from the temple, right?” and he said, “Ohhh! I thought you were gonna be foreigners!” and we were like “Okay” and we continued following him. We went across a red bridge that spanned a deep ravine, and shortly after, we got to a dirt parking lot that was covered puddles. We parked, got out of the car, and saw that there were a ton of stone lanterns lighting up the grand steps going up the mountain. The monk said we could go that way, or we could go in the van and he’d take us the rest of the way up the mountain. He said that people usually do that because normal cars sometimes have trouble getting across the dilapidated roads. This was the reason we had to turn back from our first journey into the woods.
We got in the van, and it scraped the branches and leaves on the narrow broken path. We went up and down some very steep hills until finally we were at the top, at the hotel building.
It was a normal looking building, but to the right was the start of the stone lantern-lighted path that would take us to the main building where we could check in. He took out his smart phone and showed us what the view looked like on clearer days. He was so nice and welcoming. It started drizzling and we went to the main building.
We took off our shoes at the entrance and came inside. A few monks looked like they were calculating something, and one lady who did have hair was looking at some papers at the table to the left. It was stacked tall with lots of paperwork and small doodads. We were seated at a small coffee table and the main monk sat across from us and gave us hot tea and some cookies. They gave us the map for the place, a schedule for activities, and also asked us when we would like to have dinner and breakfast the next morning. Masa paid a little extra to have sake at dinner. Then he gave us the receipt and told us that we’d pay at the end of our stay, in cash. We were a little worried because we didn’t know if we had enough cash. But we did.
They also gave us a wooden stick, and told us that we’re supposed to write our desires on there. We wrote that we hope that us and our families would be happy and healthy for a long time. We’d use it in a ceremony later.
We put our shoes back on and a monk showed us our living quarters. The same thing happened here as the ryokan. The monk showed us where we could put our shoes before we walked inside, and then showed us the elevators, stairs, and vending machines in every hallway on every floor. He directed us to the elevator and when we got up to the third floor, he had quickly run up the stairs to meet us there! He showed us the room, explained the situation with the onsen downstairs, and told us to get settled in. It was really really cold, especially in the hallway. The carpet was light purple, and patterned in splotches reminiscent of water damage. The sinks were in every hallway, and there was a set of public toilets on every floor. The showers and onsen were in the basement, shared, and only usable until 10 PM.
Our room was a traditional Japanese room: flooring was tatami mats, and there were two sets of sliding wooden doors. The futons were put away in the closet for now, and there was a traditional low kotatsu in the middle of the room. The windows were blocked by rice paper sliding doors. It was actually really big! The first thing we did was make some tea and turn on the kotatsu. There’s a heating element under the table, and the blanket keeps the heat in so your legs stay warm.
After a bit, it was time for dinner and we were called to the dining room on our floor. We were not given a key to our room so it was pretty honor-system based. You could lock rooms from the inside but not from the outside.
In the dining room, there was already one family seated around their dinner sets. We all sat on the ground on cushions. The waiters came around and gave us freshly made tea and lit up the heating elements. Dinner was beautiful. There were options on the website and we chose the dinner that had some fish. Usually I think the monks eat vegetarian.
Dinner was delicious. We alternated bites of pickled veggies, tempura, soup, rice, and fresh fish. It was amazing, and just as good as the ryokan food, just with a little less grandeur. I was surprised the meals were so good and had such a variety at such an austere place. The family next to us was funny. The dad was slamming back glass after glass of sake and occasionally sipping on the beer. The kid was like “dad, why don’t you drink a little more of that beer once in a while?” Masa translated for me. After we got back to the room, we saw that they had put out the futons.
In the room, we put on our coats so that we could stroll around the temple grounds. The showers and onsen were going to close at 10 PM, so we were rushing to get outside and explore. Most of the pathways were lined with stone lanterns, bright street lamps, and colorful banners and flags.
We climbed the stone staircase down, and then took an adjacent one that seemed to loop all the way around the temple’s property. At one landing, we saw the view that the monk had shown us on his phone.
Most of the pathways were lined with stone lanterns. But it was eerie because of how quiet and deserted it was.
Then we got to the top, and the road stopped being so well-maintained. The paths were lit with modern street lamps and framed with red and concrete gates.
We climbed our way up the mountain, taking off our coats, sweaters, and scarves the higher we climbed. It felt like we were visitors in the jungle. We navigated our way through using interesting signposts as our guide. Some of the path was lined with these strange cylinders. We started to realize that these strange concrete cylinders were toppled gates from years ago! I think there was a sign explaining it too. We also passed by a smoking section with a bench. We kept climbing higher. Our goal was to get to one destination in particular: the ancient castle ruins.
We kept climbing and climbing, following the sign to “ancient castle ruins’ and eventually we crossed the threshold of a gateway to something that seemed like another temple. Suddenly an alarm started blaring, and we saw a sign on the side of the doorway that said that this was a restricted area. We doubled back and went to the last signpost we saw, and tried to figure out where it pointed to. It was a little ambiguous but we started climbing down the hill, and this part was not lit or paved at all. I started going down this path, but the signpost said that the ruins were less than 10m away.
I started getting creeped out by how dark it was. It seemed darker than the absence of light, somehow. We realized that we had to climb a hill we had previously disregarded because it looked so lame. It honestly looked like a mound that was off-limits because there was a small garden growing on it, along with something that looked like a traffic light box.
We climbed the little mound and realized that the ancient ruins were denoted by an obelisk monument with japanese words on it. It was too dark to read. Apparently the ruins were so ruined that there was nothing left. A little disappointed, we turned back to wander around the rest of the place.
This place was a MAZE. Every corridor looked the same. There was no one walking around except for one or two monks.
Down at the bottom of the hill, near the parking lot, we saw the mascot statue of the place, the tiger.
We also visited a small calm garden. After a while of walking and exploring and reading the informational signs, we headed back to the living quarters. We showered and I sat in the onsen for a while. It was a really great temperature. I think the beauty onsens in the winter is that you kind of cook yourself, so no matter how cold it is outside, on the inside, your blood is way warmer than usual, so the cold doesn’t hurt as much. The pillows we used were a little more bean-ier than the ones at the ryokan. We fell asleep to the sound of rain.
We woke up at 5 AM to catch the fire ceremony. We took the stick we had written our desires on yesterday with us. It was raining so hard. We were confused on what to do, but we all piled into the small temple, along with all the other guests. The space inside was dark and lit only by a few dim lights. There was a stool in front, and a lot of ceremonial equipment in the middle of the room on a table. There were lots of pieces of paper that said things like “sake” and “rice” and other material objects. We took off our shoes to get in. We were still in our coats, and the main ceremonial monk came in. He welcomed us and started to arrange us in a U shape behind and around the table, and we sat. I couldn’t really see what he was doing, but he lit a fire in the middle of the room. The beautiful gold ceiling was remarkably not covered in soot, so I think the main “chandelier” was actually a super effective chimney. The door being open and the rain outside kept the air very breathable. After a few minutes of him chanting, bowing, and doing something with the metal equipment that I couldn’t see, a latecoming couple came into the room. They slid the door closed and that is when our trouble began.
The room filled with smoke quickly, as the ceremony intensified. An older gentlemen in the room started coughing, and one woman started to sniffle. I slid the door open just a crack, and the tardy guy next to me slid it closed immediately. I did this one more time because I felt bad for the people on the sides of the room that were facing most of the smoke. The monk started using his rosary and threw more items in the fire. Then the girl on the other side of the couple tried to open the door just a crack, and they promptly closed it again. More people were coughing. I honestly don’t remember too much except that the monk had been chanting this whole time. His back was to me so I wasn’t really sure what he was doing. At the end, he stood up, bowed, and spoke in perfect unaccented English, welcoming us to the temple, and explaining that we could burn our sticks in the fire as a symbol of getting rid of our earthly desires. We decided not to, since our desire didn’t seem that earthly. He also said that we could pray to the fire, and then pray to the deity on the side of the temple, in the closet that seemed to be behind the main table. We formed a line to experience these two rituals and the monk left. We put on our shoes and went back to the room.
Then, we went to morning prayers. We got lost along the way despite having explored the temple the night before. But we found a group of people and we just followed them. We did stop to snap a few pictures of the fog or the incense that was floating in the sky. The drizzle made the air taste so fresh and clean.
We took off our shoes and walked into the main temple. We sat there with a few other groups of people, and watched through a screen partition at the monks inside. There was one main monk leading the prayers, and a few other monks who were assigned to the drums. They alternated between drumming, singing, and reciting chants. The main guy had a really great and strong voice. I did not understand anything, but it sounded really nice. At some points it sounded pretty ominous too. After the prayers, we noticed that a family had been sitting within the main part of the temple. We were in the entrance way. They had a small kid with them, and I was surprised that the kid was able to be so still and respectful the whole time. The family talked more with the monks and I think it was because they were quite devout Buddhists.
In the entranceway of the main temple, there were barrels and barrels of sake left as a display. There was also a stand with daikon, radishes, oranges, and other fruits and vegetables placed on it in a ceremonial way. We left the temple and walked back to our room to wait for breakfast.
Breakfast time! Breakfast was in the same room and format as dinner the night before.
This morning, we had a tofu cooked in broth, grilled salmon, tamagoyaki, a salad of greens and broccoli, pickled daikon, pickled beans, miso soup, and rice. We also had a few pieces of fruit. It was so tasty and refreshing.
In the daylight, we noticed a few things we had missed in our exploration of the temple grounds.
The paint and the banners were so clear and vivid, despite the rainfall that you get in the mountains. We also saw much more tiger figures prowling in random locations, and there was a silver statue right by one of the temples.
We walked a bit more around the temple. I was so reluctant to leave the warmth of the kotatsu, but we had to get on our way to Kobe. We paid for the stay in the main room, and said our goodbyes.
