Photoessay #1015 - Yamadera - We made it!

Before I came to Japan, I was looking for things in Yamagata prefecture and I found some beautiful pictures of the Yamadera temple...with its 1100 steps to the top.

This morning Nobuko's friend Noriko came over to be our guide...to somewhere...and it turned out to be the Yamadera temple. Though I didn't quite catch on until we got there. We looked at all of the many beautiful shrines and temples in the complex including the biggest oldest one. I will feature pictures in a later post.

Then we came to the start of walk to the top...oh! This is the part with the 1100 steps. Nobuko's friend was older but fitter, she had just done the walk within the last week. Dennis was game but Nobuko and I thought no way. But maybe we could go up part of the way if we went slowly. All along the path were shrines and graves and sculptures. So we would go part of the way and rest and, yes, maybe we could go some more. And maybe a little more. And why not? And soon we were at the very top! We made it!

Beautiful view of the mountains. The cold weather had persisted so the cherry blossoms were not out yet. At the top was a shrine AND temple with a large Buddha golden statue inside. No photos allowed at that part. I purchased some trinkets at prices designed to help support the monastery from some monks. Because of the place, because I bought them at the top of the mountain at the Yamadera temple.

We were all so proud of ourselves. After we came home, we drank some green tea (which you drink all of the time), then later went to visit Nobuko's sister for quite awhile and then later, Nobuko's niece came and we all had dinner, discussed medical insurance (in two languages) and planned our trip to Kyoto.