Yama-dera (Yamagata)

 temple, place with historical importance, interesting place, buddhist temple

Common name of the Tendai sect Ryūshaku-ji temple. Located in the region of Yamagata in the Tokohu, Yamadera literally means "Temple of the mountain".

The temple complex is located on the side of a mountain and there are no fewer than 1100 steps to reach the upper part.

This place is also known because of the passage Bashō Matsuo (松尾芭蕉), great poet of the Edo period. Here he wrote his famous haiku "ah this silence / sinking into the rocks / voice of cicada" in 1689. A museum of Basho's writings and paintings and other related art, the Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum, is a short walk up the hill on the opposite side of the steep valley. In 1996 the Ministry of the Environment selected the cicadas of Yama-dera as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan.

The temple is a nationally-designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site.

Entrance : ¥300

Access:
- 15 minutes from JR Yamagata station on the Senzan line (Yamadera station).
- 50 minutes from Sendai on the Senzan line.
Next 10 minutes on foot from the station to the temple entrance.