It was the perfect plan. If only I had considered how Japanese hotels operate. Or rather, how their parking buildings do.

A few weeks back I was invited to give a presentation in Yamagata City, a two hour drive from here. Naturally, as a yamabushi, my first thoughts were ‘how many mountains could I fit in?’

I’ve slowly been making my way through the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata list. One by one, I investigate these mountains. One by one, I climb them, make a YouTube video, and post about it on my blog. I’ve climbed essentially all of the mountains in the region I live in, Shonai, so any trip to other parts of the prefecture is like candy to me.

I decided I should be able to get three mountains in; Tokami-yama and Shiro-yama on the outskirts of Yamagata City, and Chitose-yama, home to the Legend of Princess Akoya.

The plan was to get up early, climb Tokami-yama, climb Shiro-yama, stay in the hotel, get up extra early the second day, climb Chitose-yama, then get back in time for my presentation in the afternoon.

Long story short, Tokami-yama and Shiro-yama more than lived up to expectations (more on that later).

Chitose-yama on the other hand, well Chitose-yama still very much lived up to expectations.

But I didn’t climb it.

You see, I failed to take into account something seasoned patrons of Japanese hotels will probably already know.

Many, if not most, hotels in Japan offer parking. It could be just your standard parking building, you drive in, find a spot, and that’s that. Yet in a place like Japan where space is at a premium (at least in the big cities like Yamagata, ahem), you also get these thin but tall parking towers that look like a normal one-car garage only they extend about 10 stories into the sky.

You roll on up, let the assistant know you’re staying and want a park, then wait.

And wait.

Eventually, the garage door opens, and you are greeted with a metal spindle, like the ones you see on Thomas The Tank Engine to spin the trains around, only this one is much smaller.

You park your car in the designated spot, hop out, make sure to grab everything you need, walk out of the garage, the door closes, you collect your ticket stub, and that’s that.

You’re done.

Yet in my case…

The next morning I made an effort to get up extra early, before 5 O’clock for anyone counting.

True to form, it was already bright out. The sun comes up around 4am in the middle of summer here. So I get ready, grab the ticket stub, and my heart drops instantly as I see:

Operating Hours: 7am to 10pm

7am! What is this, the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon? All that effort of getting up early, planning weeks in advance, all up in smoke due to one stupid parking building!

I was livid at myself. How could I make such a rookie mistake?

Not to worry.

Don’t cry over spilt sake and all that. I reminded myself where I was; one of the most historically important cities in one of the most historically important prefectures of Japan.

So, I did the next best thing. I visited Yamagata Castle, known these days as Kajo Castle. Which, as it turns out, was perfect because of the mountains I had climbed the day earlier (more on that later).

And I have to say

it was rather pleasant.

There were still remnants of the Sakura, and I got to explore the place at my leisure, albeit along with half of Yamagata’s retired community. Still, it’s a fun place to explore, especially if you know your Yamagata history (or even just a little, I guess. More on that later).

Then, when 7am finally rolled around, I begrudgingly took my ticket stub to the parking tower, and headed to Chitose-yama. Chitose-yama has three trailheads. I chose the Bansho-ji Temple trailhead, the location of the Akoya Pine, where the Legend of Princess Akoya takes place.

The Legend of Princess Akoya

READ THE LEGEND HERE

Although I got there much later than expected, this turned out to be a Kami-send.

I parked in the temple’s parking lot at the base of the mountain. No unbalanced parking buildings here. Then I got out and did a bit of exploring. Not wanting to lurk around unannounced, I walked up the stone path, past the traditional buildings, the cemetery with its massive sakura in full bloom, the belfry, a few Jizo statues, the gates formerly from Kajo Castle, apparently at least, the zen garden complete with Koi fish, and then I noticed there was no doorbell at what looked like the main entrance.

So I did what the Japanese do, I opened the door and shouted:

‘Gomen kudasai!’

(Which literally translated means ‘sorry please’, but is more like ‘allow me to intrude please’)

'Haaai’ comes the voice from within.

A few seconds later, an older yet sprightly man with a beanie wearing samue comes out.

'Hi, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m making a video about Princess Akoya and Chitose-yama. Would it be ok for me to film the temple grounds?’

’That’s a horagai conch isn’t it!?’

'Well, yes. It is.

'I have one of those. Hang on, I’ll go get it.

He shuffles away only to return a few seconds later with his own conch, a tea set, and some snacks.

'Can you play yours?’ He asks.

'Yes, of course I can.

'Go ahead!

'What, here in the entrance!?

'Where else!?’

I turn around so the conch faces outside and give my best rendition of Kiwi Yamabushi on the Conch.

'Sugoi! You’re better than me!

'Somehow I doubt that.’

But I’ll take the compliment.

And we got talking.

Hirashimizu Kosen (the same Sen as in my yamabushi name!), as he is known, is the chief priest of Bansho-ji. He explains that he uses his Horagai conch maybe once or twice a year during rituals. Oh, and that he has also visited New Zealand a few times before.

A few seconds later, the door behind Hirashimizu-san opens and his son walks past.

And we got talking.

It turns out the son trained as a Zen monk at Zenpoji Monastery in Tsuruoka, where we take participants on our yamabushi programs. We both knew a lot of the priests there, and were able to reminisce, although it sounded like his training was much tougher than what we put our participants through; 40 minutes of Zazen meditation versus 10 hours a day, for example.

I asked for directions to the Akoya Pine and Chitose-yama. What I got was a guided tour by the son (the Akoya Pine is about a 5 minute walk up the hill). Oh, Kosen also felt it wise to give me a book about not only the legend of Princess Akoya, but The Tale of The Princess of Chujo too.

In English.

A book he wrote apparently, but had translated and illustrated by professionals. I recorded what I came to record, well besides the climbing Chitose-yama part, and headed back to the hotel, with a brief stop at an awesome coffee shop, mind you.

Next time I’m in town I’m hoping to climb Chitose-yama, and I’ll be sure to stop by Bansho-ji Temple. I may even stay in the same hotel, but I think I’ll leave the car in a normal parking building.