Description
The Dewa Sanzan, Japan’s three sacred mountains: representing the present, past, and rebirth – the spiritual heartbeats of Yamagata. For more than 14 centuries, yamabushi (or “mountain”) monks have traversed these slopes. Here, we explore the shukubo (pilgrim lodges) of Tsuruoka City’s Toge district, one of the bases for pilgrimages to the Dewa Sanzan.
Clad in white robes of symbolic death and rebirth, they journey into mountains that unfold in myriad colors. Breathtaking landscapes and sansai (mountain vegetables) that disappear as quickly as they sprout, defining the culinary soul of Yamagata. In Nishikawa Town, locals’ hand-harvest these bounties with a quiet devotion that translates into every plate of food, centuries of culinary culture bursting through the humble flavors of a single stem.
Experience it through the eyes of Andy Cheng, a freelance travel writer and chef, whose journey first begins as a search for the ephemeral sansai, but unravels into a deeper world of tradition and food, shaped by a generations-long relationship between the people of Yamagata and the mountains.
Yamagata welcomes you into a pilgrimage for the soul. Here, nature's fleeting gifts remind us that the feeling of rebirth is not in a single moment, but a generational cycle in which what we preserve today becomes the richness of tomorrow.
Discover more now:
https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/yamagata/a-journey-of-rebirth?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=JNTO&utm_campaign=A-journey-of-rebirth&utm_content=Video01
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