The 3 Mountains

We visited on the saturday agfternoon , the beautiful shinto temple of Dewa Sanzan celebrating the 3 sacred peaks which meet there : Gassan, Yudono-san and Haguro-san .This site is one of the most sacred site in Japan ( the other ones beeing Omine San near Yoshino and Hakusan in Chubu ) It is a place of pilgrimages and so many thatched temple inns are found along the road . The entrance gate near Toge is splendifiscent .and lead to a five storied pagoda the only bouddhist structure left undisturbed by the shinto reformers . When you do the pilgrimage you walk through the hills from that pagoda hour long climbing up a series of staircases leading to a tea house serving free tea to the couragous pilgrims and sells certificate to prove you have made it that far and see the fabtastic view of the Mogami river valley and the Japan Sea You still have miles to climb up before reaching the temple itself 2 mountains away !!! Of course we only went by car but here is the first portal and the first little shrines of the pilgrimage, then monastery's gong .