Details

Day One:
Meet your guides at Tsuruoka Station and visit the Foodever visitors center. Here we will see a short lecture about the Three Holy Mountains of Dewa (the Dewa Sanzan) and learn about the Yamabushi monks who have trained on these mountains for centuries. We will then transfer to Miyatabo, a traditional Yamabushi lodge that has hosted and trained Yamabushi for over 150 years. Here you can explore the surrounding town of Togue and see the many shrines and pilgrim lodges that continue to service the many travelers who come to train on these mountains. We will then return to Miyatabo and enjoy a shojin ryori dinner course. This is the traditional cuisine of the Yamabushi that has been developed here on the Dewa Sanzan mountains by the monks who isolated themselves from outside society for long periods during their training.
Meals: Dinner
Accommodation: Miyatabo, a major yamabushi pilgrim lodge on Mt. Haguro with over 150 years of history.

Day Two:
Wake up early in the morning for a shojin ryori breakfast. We will then dress into the "shirosozoku" robes of the Yamabushi before taking part in a special fire ritual in the shrine of Miyatabo by Yamabushi priests. After receiving the blessings of the Yamabushi, we will head into the ancient cedar forest of Mt. Haguro and ascend up the mountain. Along the way we will see manshrines and sites for Yamabushi training. This includes the stunningly beautiful five- storied pagoda of Mt. Haguro which rests in a forest of towering trees and is registered as a national treasure of Japan. Climbing further up the mountain we will stop and rest at a teahouse with expansive views of the Shonai Plains and learn more about why these mountains became such a major site for mountain worship here in Japan. Reaching the peak of Mt. Haguro, we will visit the sprawling complex of the Dewa Sanzan Shrine and make offerings to the gods of that watch over the Shonai Region. After visiting the shrines at the top of the mountain we will then make our way back down and return to Miyatabo where we will dress back into our clothes and have lunch at one of the family run restaurants near the lodge. We will then make our way back to the station or airport where we will drop you off in time for your departure back to Tokyo.