♨️Sleeping Inside Japan’s Ancient Temples | 3 Night Shukubō Stay

♨️Sleeping Inside Japan’s Ancient Temples | 3 Night Shukubō Stay

Before travel in Japan became leisure, journeys began with prayer. In this film I stay overnight in three shukubō — the temple lodgings that grew around Japan’s oldest reason to travel — at Minobusan in Yamanashi, on Shigisan in Nara, and at Ryūtakuzenji in rural Gunma.

♨️ The stays
At Habanobō, one of the branch temples surrounding Kuonji, hospitality still belongs to religious life. The priest welcomes foreign guests with a small translation device and one quiet condition: for the length of the stay, you are his disciple. Dinner is homemade shōjin ryōri; worship begins with a chant sheet placed in your hands, then the walk to Kuonji as the mountain’s separate temples converge for the morning service.

Gyokuzōin is a working prayer temple where guests are allowed to sleep. After the day visitors leave, Shigisan becomes another place entirely — and before dawn, the goma fire ritual is something you hear more than see. The dinner here is closer to restrained kaiseki than temple vegetarian cuisine, one reminder that no two shukubō follow the same model.

Shukubō Shiun, beside the Sōtō Zen temple Ryūtakuzenji, is the modern end of the tradition: a comfortable retreat with zazen each morning and long hours left to the guest. The terrace bath is not onsen, but from the water I could see the tops of the cherry trees.

🎞️ Chapters
00:00 Before travel became leisure
00:28 What is a shukubō?
01:15 Guidance — Habanobō and Minobusan
02:28 Becoming a disciple for the stay
03:37 Prayer and shōjin ryōri
04:02 Walking to Kuonji for morning service
04:35 Ritual — Gyokuzōin and Shigisan
06:46 The mountain after the day visitors leave
07:28 Goma before dawn
08:31 Morning over the Yamato Basin
09:05 Reflection — Ryūtakuzenji and Shukubō Shiun
10:11 Zazen and the sound of silence
11:11 History carried through family memory
11:43 Customer, guest, participant

🍂 Context
Habanobō was filmed in summer. The Shigisan chapter combines an earlier cherry blossom visit with the summer overnight stay at Gyokuzōin. Ryūtakuzenji and Shiun were filmed in spring, when the temple approach was lined with blossoms.

🚃 Access
Habanobō sits within the Minobusan temple settlement, about 15 minutes by car from JR Minobu Station. Gyokuzōin is reached by bus or taxi from JR/Kintetsu Oji Station. Ryūtakuzenji lies in the quiet outskirts of Takasaki, Gunma.

📍 Temple details
Habanobō / 身延山 端場坊
3493 Minobu, Minobu-cho, Minamikoma-gun, Yamanashi 409-2524

Gyokuzōin / 信貴山大本山 玉蔵院
2280 Shigisan, Heguri-cho, Ikoma-gun, Nara 636-0923

Ryūtakuzenji / 瀧澤禅寺 · Shukubō Shiun / 宿坊 紫雲
1583 Shirakawa, Misato-machi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-3117

If a stay like this appeals to you — the guided, the ritual, or the reflective — tell me in the comments where you would begin.

#Shukubo #TempleStay #JapanTravel #SlowTravelJapan #Minobusan #Shigisan #JapaneseCulture #RyokanMeguri👋

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Your host
I’m Hansen, a Scandinavian resident of Japan since 2010. With over a decade in the Japanese travel industry and certification as an Onsen Sommelier, I created Onsen with Hansen (Ryokan Meguri) to document the architecture, minerals, and historical bathing culture of Japan’s most exclusive and hidden ryokan. Join the Hidden Ryokan Hunters as we explore the Architecture of Time.

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✨ 温泉が大好きなハンセンでした。次回も一緒に湯っくりしましょう！

✋ Not sponsored. I only feature historic Japanese inns I have personally stayed at. Filming in communal onsen areas is strictly regulated in Japan — I always obtain permission from ryokan staff, film during private hours, and prioritise other guests’ privacy.