----------------------------------- Alessandro Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:24 am Dewa sanzan (Yamagata-ken) [E] ----------------------------------- Dewa sanzan are three sacred mountains, and one of the most beautiful places in Japan. They are situated in Yamagata prefecture, and if you want to climb them all, summer is the season to go: I went there in October 2005 and it was already impossible to climb Gassan. G WHITE Gassan (月山) Y WHITE Yunodo-san (湯殿山) H WHITE Haguro-san (羽黒山) M RED Miyashita shukubo 234 I went there after reading on another website : "Some places are so wonderful that they are almost impossible to write about"; and I think that's right about this place. I will post several parts concerning the different places I visited: Yodon-san, Gassan, Haguro-san and also a final part dedicated to shukubo. Shukubo, or temple lodging, is a good way to sleep at low cost in places like Nara or Kyoto (or Dewa sanzan), while having a really traditional experience. For example, I stayed in a shinto shukubo and had a fire ceremony at 6:00 in the morning. Hope to get you interested with those few introduction lines. The first part will be Yodono-san.