Walking the Same Path Twice

How two visits, six years apart, changed the way I saw Yamadera.

A Mountain I Had Long Wanted to Visit

***Yamadera Station*** *The journey begins here.*

As I stepped out of Yamadera Station, Mount Hōju rose directly before me.
Halfway up its rocky slopes, I could see the temple quietly overlooking the valley.

A temple in the sky.

The thought that I was about to climb there filled me with quiet excitement.
It was a place I had only seen in photographs—a landscape I had always hoped to visit one day.

Now, I was finally here.

Savoring the joy of this moment, I began walking toward the sacred mountain, slowly, one step at a time.

The journey began with a single poster.

**Mount Hōju** The temple waits quietly above the valley.

At the station, I had seen an image of a small temple standing dramatically on the edge of a cliff, gazing over the town below.

I wanted to stand there myself.

That was the only reason I came.
In fact, even on the day of my visit, I knew very little about Yamadera's history or the stories behind its temples.

**The First Steps** *One step at a time.*s the entrance to the sacred realm of Dewa Sanzan.

**Konpon Chūdō** *The mountain welcomes every traveler.*

A Mountain That Reveals Itself Slowly

**The Mountain Itself** Stone has always been part of the temple.

As I walked higher into the mountain, I began to notice something.
Yamadera felt almost like a carefully designed theme park.

Not in the modern sense of rides or attractions, but as a place where every turn offered another discovery.

***Stone Buddha*** *Watching silently beside the path.*

***Along the Way*** *Every corner offers another discovery.*

Stone Buddhas whose expressions changed with the light.
Steep cliffs rising behind the path.
Ancient temple halls surrounded by towering cedar trees.

Although Yamadera has long been a place of spiritual training, I couldn't help wondering if beauty itself had also been part of the journey.

The scenery below appeared and disappeared between the trees, changing with every step I climbed.

So absorbed was I in photographing these moments that, before I realized it, I had already reached Niōmon Gate.

The climb never felt difficult.
Perhaps travelers in the Edo period felt exactly the same way.

Every Turn Offers Something New

**Nokyō-dō** *Not the destination—one unforgettable stop along the journey.*

Before visiting Yamadera, I believed Nokyō-dō was the destination.
Its small wooden hall, standing on the edge of a cliff, was the image I had seen so many times in photographs.

But walking the mountain completely changed that impression.
Nokyō-dō was not the destination.
It was simply one of many unforgettable encounters along the way.

Nokyō-dō.
Kaisan-dō.
Godai-dō.

Yamadera was not designed to be experienced through a single temple.

Its true beauty unfolded through the journey itself, one step, one discovery, and one quiet moment at a time.

Returning Six Years Later

Six years later, I returned to Yamadera in summer.
Everything felt different.

The colors.
The air.
The sky.

Even the mountain seemed unfamiliar.
The intense summer sunlight washed out my photographs.
For a moment, I wondered if this was really the same place.

Yet along the mountain path, the same cast of characters welcomed me back.

The stone Buddhas.
The cedar trees.
The familiar temples.

They were always there, quietly waiting.

The Journey Was Different

Even when the magnificent view from the summit disappeared into mist, the journey itself lost none of its beauty.
Every visit offers something that exists only in that moment.

A different light.
A different season.
A different feeling.

Perhaps that is why people have continued to walk this mountain for centuries.

*Every visit reveals a different mountain.*

Six years had not changed Yamadera.
They had changed the way I saw it.

Perhaps,
the true joy of returning
is not finding
the same place again,
but discovering
a new way of seeing it.