Komadori-Sanso shrine stay (Tokyo)

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Komadori-Sanso

TEL :0428-78-8472
Address :155 Mitakesan, Ome, Tokyo
Access :“JR Yamanote line Shinjyuku Station” > “JR Mitake station” > (bus) > “Cable-Shita bus stop” > (Cable car) > “Mitakesan” > 15 minutes walk
Time :Check-in 15:00 Check-out 10:00
Room :10 guest room

Shukubo stay
without meals 5,400~yen
including 2 meals 8,640~yen

Shukubo (Shrine stay)

Mount Mitake has been worshipped as a sacred mountain of Kanto and shukubo lodges have spread around the Musashi Mitake shrine. Among them, Komadori-Sanso is popular as a shukubo that offers takigyo (ascetic training of being hit by a waterfall) even to general people in Tokyo.

The lodge commanded a good view. (Unfortunately, it was cloudy when we stayed there.)

The food was also good, especially the raw devil’s tongue jelly, which was their specialty.

The bath was a large barrel made from Japanese cypress, which allowed me to enjoy a relaxing time.

Takigyo (Waterfall training)

To participate in this training, you leave the lodge at 5:30 in the morning and walk on a mountain path for half an hour to reach the waterfall. On the way, you will see the Tengu-no-Koshikake cedar (a cedar tree that serves as a Tengu’s chair), which is 350 years old and 60 meters high.

It is a refreshing place with abundant nature everywhere. When you reach the upstream of the river of the waterfall, you purify yourself with sacred sake. Going down the rocky path, you will reach the Ayahiro waterfall.

The Ayahiro waterfall is located in a recession of the mountain surrounded by rocky walls. It has a drop of 10 meters. Takigyo is an ascetic practice that is dangerous if done carelessly, so we have to strictly follow the instructions of the shukubo manager.

At the waterfall, you put on a loincloth (for men) or a white robe (for women) that you received beforehand and do preparatory exercises.

These exercises require unique actions with names. “Torifune” is a motion like rowing a boat calling out “Ei” and “Oh” while standing firmly with one leg put forward. “Furitama” is the motion of both hands joined around your belly, shaking the imaginary soul you hold between your palms. “Otakebi” is the motion of shouting the name of the gods in a loud voice toward the mountain. With these movements in Shinto forms, you will warm yourself up.

Especially, shouting in a mountain brings you the refreshing feeling of your blood circulating through your body. Your voice reflects off of the rock walls to the right and left and vanishes into the forest. As for me, I felt as if I were becoming one with the mountain.

When everyone was sufficiently warmed-up, the takigyo began. Having splashed water over to the body to get accustomed to it, we placed ourselves under the waterfall one by one, when our turn came. Under the waterfall, while enduring the cold water and the greater-than-expected pressure, we were supposed to keep on chanting the name of the god “Haraedo-no-Okami.”

Basically, we were hit by the water for three times, 10 seconds each. It sounds short, but even such a short time was really tough under the waterfall.

When you finished takigyo training, we went back down the mountain path again after putting on our clothes. The whole body warmed up after being hit by the cold water and felt more refreshed than expected.

I hear some people participate in takigyo periodically because they cannot forget the refreshing feeling they experienced. After going back to the lodge, they will showed us around the shrine.

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