Nagano
Perhaps best known for the 1998 Winter Olympics, Nagano is a popular ski station. The summer provides an excellent opportunity to enjoy the forests and their hidden shrines at nearby Togakushi.
Nagano is a modern and spotless city with low-rise block buildings interspersed with occasional traditional and older properties. From many points of the city, you can see the Northern Japanese Alps in the distance.
Zenkoji is a major attraction in Nagano. It is a Buddhist temple that was established in the 7th century. The city’s past emanates from the temple, the many accompanying buildings, and its grounds.
Togakushi
Togakushi is just over an hour from Nagano by bus, heading up into the Northern Japanese Alps. The village lies a short work from the Togakushi Shrines of the Shinto religion. It is the indigenous religion of Japan and has a history of more than 3000 years. In Togakushi, I stayed in a guesthouse run by a very hospitable Shinto Priest and his family.
Shinto is a polytheistic and animistic religion; that is to say that practitioners worship multiple gods, and they believe in the spirit of all living things and objects. The Emperor of Japan is the head of the Shinto religion.
Most Shinto shrines are located in forests. Togakushi Shrine is no different, and the path to the shrine is flanked by massive cedar trees.
