Zen Temple Stay in Deepjapan Close To Greater Tokyo / Saiyu Travel

PRIVATE / customized

Zen Temple Stay in #DeepJapan
Close To Greater Tokyo
Experience a zen temple stay with instructions from real monks
for meditation, sutra chanting and ema votive tablet inscribing

Price
please inquire
Duration
2days (24-25 hours)
Date
All year round with few exceptions

Highlights

- Marvel at exquisite simplicity of zen temple stay, with instructions from real monks for meditation, sutra chanting and votive tablet inscribing

- Enjoy picturesque grounds of ancient mountain temple surrounded by cedar forest, where you get past beautiful countryside

- Immerse in tranquility of the place (no crowds despite being relatively close to Tokyo, unless it's temple festival occasion)

- Intellectual and spiritual experience - chance to truly learn about both zen buddhism and shinto in authentic and engaging, boredom-free way

- Try shojin ryori, monastery cuisine refined over many centuries - eat what monk and priests eat for dinner and breakfast

- Combine temple stay with other trips and other plans - Before or after your Hakone hot spring resort stay, or before or after visit to Kyoto, Nagoya or Hiroshima (it's on the way back to Tokyo)

Temple Lodge

Your shukubo room is spacious and clean, but very ascetic, with virtually no amenities except green tea and electric pot with hot water, and no room service. You share sink, toilet, bath / shower zone with other temple guests, and at night you have to roll out your own bed (futon mattress placed on the floor with fresh bed sheets and blanket will be in each room). This is not a hotel, but a temple lodge - so manage your expectations and think ascetic monastery cell but just more spacious. At the sink area near your room even in winter only cold water is available. Hot water shower is only available at public bath zone in the evening, and visitors are asked to be through with bath by 9PM. The air conditioner in your room as well as toilet in public area are modern and brand new, yet some other elements of daily comfort are lacking at the monastery lodge.
CAUTION: no amenities except soap and toilet paper is provided. Bring along all cosmetics (even cotton buds) you need besides body&hand soap.

Itinerary

	Summary
1	Our guide together with the driver pick you up anywhere in Hakone or Yokohama in the morning. If you prefer to go directly to the temple and spend the rest of your day there, guide and driver can meet you in Odawara station at anytime between noon and 3PM. Meeting place and time must be pre-set well in advance. After the drive on a winding mountain roads across beautiful countryside, arrive at ancient temple grounds. Be greeted by the resident monk and priest, and shown your room. Change into temple robe if your prefer, and gather for a temple talk at a designated time. Learn about zen meditation, get a short dive into history of the temple, write a wish on a votive tablet. Then take a walk with monk and priest around temple grounds. Your guide will be translating throughout. The priest will take you around vast temple grounds, showing some art and highlighting architectural elements. Immerse yourself in the beauty of temple structures and surrounding nature, drink some pristine water from the spring, and sense how buddhism religion and shinto beliefs amalgamate and intertwine in Japanese culture. Have an early dinner with the monk or a senior priest, with gratitude prayer chanting preceding the start of the meal. Weather and visibility conditions permitting, maybe gaze at a starry sky before rolling out your futon. Call it a day and sleep early after visiting indoor public bath area (outdoor bath is unavailable). The water in the bath is not a hot spring, but it's pristine mountain water, and is soft on one's skin. Overnight at the temple lodge \| Meals Included: dinner
2	A monk ringing a bell runs along corridors well before sunrise, around 5 AM (!!). Wake up and by 5:20 be ready to proceed to meditation hall for a morning meditation. You can sleep in a little longer and only come see main religious ritual at main temple hall in which all priests and monks participate from 6 AM. You can take photos and video of mysterious morning ritual as long as it's done respectfully* (. After morning ritual ends in about an hour, monk and priest who dined with you yesterday will accompany you to the place where you leave your ema votive tablet, and you walk along temple grounds in the morning light, asking questions as you make your way back to the room. *guide will instruct in detail what is acceptable and what is not. The face of chief abbot should not be filmed under any circumstances, and his way should never be obstructed. Gather for breakfast around 7:30, and then relax in your room or continue to explore temple grounds on your own. Check out and depart, with monk and priest waving you goodbye. You can forward your luggage using Japan Post service from the temple lodge. Please budget in a day or two for it to reach your next accommodation (same day luggage delivery can be arranged for you by us at significant extra cost, but not by the temple lodge). You can stay for another night if you want to advance towards mastering mediation, try your hand at sutra copying, or see more of a temple daily life, hike the temple's vast grounds and beyond. Private driver will drop your off at Odawara station (or, subject to advance notice, at your next accommodation in Odawara vicinity or in Hakone). Guide can accompany you to your next destination or see you off from the train platform. Meals Included: breakfast

Summary

Our guide together with the driver pick you up anywhere in Hakone or Yokohama in the morning. If you prefer to go directly to the temple and spend the rest of your day there, guide and driver can meet you in Odawara station at anytime between noon and 3PM. Meeting place and time must be pre-set well in advance.

After the drive on a winding mountain roads across beautiful countryside, arrive at ancient temple grounds. Be greeted by the resident monk and priest, and shown your room.

Change into temple robe if your prefer, and gather for a temple talk at a designated time. Learn about zen meditation, get a short dive into history of the temple, write a wish on a votive tablet. Then take a walk with monk and priest around temple grounds. Your guide will be translating throughout. The priest will take you around vast temple grounds, showing some art and highlighting architectural elements. Immerse yourself in the beauty of temple structures and surrounding nature, drink some pristine water from the spring, and sense how buddhism religion and shinto beliefs amalgamate and intertwine in Japanese culture.

Have an early dinner with the monk or a senior priest, with gratitude prayer chanting preceding the start of the meal.

Weather and visibility conditions permitting, maybe gaze at a starry sky before rolling out your futon.

Call it a day and sleep early after visiting indoor public bath area (outdoor bath is unavailable). The water in the bath is not a hot spring, but it's pristine mountain water, and is soft on one's skin.

Overnight at the temple lodge | Meals Included: dinner

A monk ringing a bell runs along corridors well before sunrise, around 5 AM (!!). Wake up and by 5:20 be ready to proceed to meditation hall for a morning meditation. You can sleep in a little longer and only come see main religious ritual at main temple hall in which all priests and monks participate from 6 AM.

You can take photos and video of mysterious morning ritual as long as it's done respectfully* (. After morning ritual ends in about an hour, monk and priest who dined with you yesterday will accompany you to the place where you leave your ema votive tablet, and you walk along temple grounds in the morning light, asking questions as you make your way back to the room.

*guide will instruct in detail what is acceptable and what is not. The face of chief abbot should not be filmed under any circumstances, and his way should never be obstructed.

Gather for breakfast around 7:30, and then relax in your room or continue to explore temple grounds on your own.

Check out and depart, with monk and priest waving you goodbye. You can forward your luggage using Japan Post service from the temple lodge. Please budget in a day or two for it to reach your next accommodation (same day luggage delivery can be arranged for you by us at significant extra cost, but not by the temple lodge).

You can stay for another night if you want to advance towards mastering mediation, try your hand at sutra copying, or see more of a temple daily life, hike the temple's vast grounds and beyond.

Private driver will drop your off at Odawara station (or, subject to advance notice, at your next accommodation in Odawara vicinity or in Hakone). Guide can accompany you to your next destination or see you off from the train platform.

Meals Included: breakfast

Price

Number of tour participants	Price per person
1 to 6participants	please inquire

■Maximum number of participants for this tour is 8 – we will quote the price per person for 7 or 8 participants as per your request.
■We do not accept kids under 15 years old unless it is only your family on this tour.
■The rates are in Japanese yen and can be paid either by credit card or bank transfer.
Exchange rate may change if you prefer to pay in foreign currency.
**We can quote the rates in Japanese yen and you have choice to pay by credit card or via international bank transfer. Exchange rate may change if you prefer to pay in foreign currency.

Important notes

The detailed itinerary with specific location names will be sent to all participants at the same time within 1 week after non-refundable deposit payment reaches us. In the meantime, the best reference is the description here above.

Generally, the tour price will be inclusive of:

Experienced English-speaking guide | Private vehicle with local drive | Accommodation at the temple lodge | Dinner & breakfast at the temple

Exclusive of :

Transportation to/from Japan | Shinkansen bullet train tickets | Travel & Medical Insurance | Any meals or snacks not explicitly mentioned hereabove | Personal expenses (souvenirs, alcoholic beverages, etc.) | Any luggage forwarding service cost, luggage storage fees or porter/ luggage assistance at the station

Happy to assist on advance notice with hotel reservations and purchasing tickets, but cancellation policy and payment terms will be very different from booking directly.

Travel planning and implementation：SAIYU TRAVEL CO.,LTD.
3rd floor, Kyodo Bldg. Jimbocho, 2-2, Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0051, Japan ｜Travel Agency Registration No. 607

TOP

Contact　|　Japanease site