75to look, and unable to make eye contact
with one another, we slid into our own
corners of the bath, wonderfully hot, but
feeling somewhat embarrassed. In the
days to come, we’d have to get over such
juvenile prudishness.
Togakushi’s central shrine, Chusha,
is set amidst a grove of cedar trees. A
striking building with a greyish-white
wooden facade, it is unusual in its
extent of decoration; Shinto shrines
are typically plain. The reason for this
comparative opulence is that it was
originally a Buddhist temple, but the
devotees who worshipped here were
pressured by political forces to change
their faith some time in the 19th century.
Here, both traditions are inextricably,
and beautifully, entwined.
With every step of this snow trek
pilgrimage, we learnt new stories. Each
tree, each river, each humble shrine,
has its legends, and Tokuya recalls
them with enthusiasm. A wild woman,
who was both a bandit and a murderer,
was feared by pilgrims who thought her
to be a demon. She was purportedly
transformed on this very spot and
became a Buddhist nun – the goddess of
pilgrims and travellers. Another legend
has it that a hunter pursuing a bear
wounded his target and failed to kill
it, but it led him through the snow to a
spring with healing properties. And so,
the tales go on.
People here have snowshoed for
centuries, but with far simpler shoes. At
Mori No Ie (‘The House in the Woods’),
we cast our plastic snowshoes aside for
a few hours, and instead wore bamboo
kanjiki. Far lighter, we could move
nimbly over short distances, but our
legs soon grew weary; as with a smaller
surface area, each step sunk deeper into
the snow.
Beyond the bright lights of Tokyo is
another Japan, older, more beautiful,
and infinitely more intriguing. Nature,
not man, dictates the rhythm of the
seasons here, the snowfall creating
striking, dramatic vistas, and also
shaping a unique form of Japanese
culture. When you embark on such a
pilgrimage, there is a tendency to think
that you are stepping back in time, but
such places, these experiences, are
timeless – as much a part of Japan’s
present as of its past.JAPANTOGAKUSHIWHEN
The Walk Japan Snow Country Trek is
available between January and March.WHERE
The Togakushi shrines are located
northwest of Nagano.HOW
Walk Japan offers coordinated trips
with a meet and greet in Tokyo. The
writer flew with Japan Airlines to
Tokyo (www.jal.com), and caught the
Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo
to Nagano.EXPERIENCE
TOGAKUSHI© Ed Day