Lovely Sakata Tour!

Without my knowledge, I had become a member of "Hijiori Volunteer Guides" :-)  ha ha ha that happens a lot around here. But that is OK. I'm gonna love my new mission. 


This week, 3 Hijiorian volunteer guides and I attended the general assembly of "Yamagata Volunteer Guides Association" in Sakata city. 


This beautiful historical city is only 90min away from my hometown, Hijiori by car. But I never really had an opportunity to explore this city. What a shame! This trip made me a new fan of Sakata city!
Sakata is a coastal city of Yamagata (Japan sea side, not Pacific where Tsunami hit) with the population of 110,000. It had been developed as one of the most important port towns of Japan along with "Sakai"(current Osaka). 

Great thing about exploring Sakata is that a lot of the  main tourist attractions are in walking distance from Sakata train station. This day, we toured around the city on foot with a lot of Oji-chans and Oba-chans who are super energetic professional guides! We had only 3 hours and it was not at all enough to take in all these beautiful sceneries and intriguing history!


The first we stopped at these lovely temples. Sakata has a lot of magnificent temples of different Buddhist sects. In one of the temples "Kaiko-ji", lie two self-mummied monks. These self-mummied monks are called "Sokushin butsu". To make onself a mummy, is probably (or without a doubt) the most severe training of Buddhist monks to reach the enlightenment. Just thinking about it gives me shiver.
About "Sokushinbutsu"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokushinbutsu
We didn't get to see those monks but if you are interested, come to Sakata!

Our next stop was the old resident of famous "Honma Family". Honma family had been one of the biggest landlords in Japan. The huge ceder tree in the picture is about 400 years old! Honma family has contributed a lot to develop Sakata city, and Sakata's history cannot be written without mentioning "Honma-sama"... 

Our last stop was "Sankyo Soko" wich is a set of old rice storehouses by the port. These black buildings are still used to store rice. The whole place has been re-modified recently to cater to tourists. They have done a great job, I'd say. Attached to the warehouses are museum of local art, and atmospheric sourvenior shops. 

You can take a dinner  boat cruise! The pink round thing on my palm is Sakata's speciality, Sakata Dagashi, Anko sweets.  Yum!

Sakata is such a picturesque city. I have to come back here sometime soon to visit all the museums and eat at the local restaurants~~~!
More Information About Sakata City
http://www.sakata-kankou.gr.jp/cgi/kf/kfinfo.cgi