TouchScreenTravels logo

TouchScreenTravels

Our Touch, your Travels…

This is a preview of the full content of our Japan’s Best app.

Please consider downloading this app to support small independent publishing and because:

  • All content is designed for mobile devices and works best there.
  • Detailed in-app maps will help you find sites using your device’s GPS.
  • The app works offline (one time upgrade required on Android versions).

The app will also allow you to:

  • Add custom locations to the app map (your hotel…).
  • Create your own list of favourites as you browse.
  • Search the entire contents using a fast and simple text-search tool.
  • Make one-click phone calls (on phones).
iOS App Store Google Play

Yamadera 山寺

Mountain temple with views

Yamadera autumn

High in the mountains northeast of Yamagata City, the atmospheric Yamadera, also known as Risshaku-ji and founded in 860, extends up a steep mountainside, offering superb views down onto the valley below. Get ready for 1000 steps, but it’s all worth it.

The base of the mountain is a 5min walk from the Yamadera train station, and there are dozens of shops and restaurants that cater to the temple's visitors.

Fans of the great poet and traveller Matsuo Bashō, who composed one of his most enduring haiku about the stillness and silence here in the late 1600s, will be pleased to find a statue of Bashō and a rock inscription of his famous poem in the lower area of the temple grounds.

There’s also a Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum that focuses on his trip and famous work, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, near the station.

Practical Info Practical Info icon

Yamadera@JNTO

Traditional Arts & Crafts

Tōhoku 東北

Text © Craig McLachlan

Image by Raita Futo