Handcraft must be respect.

This Shugendō temple has a simple, rustic old building; although it's not large, it has a strong sense of history. The volunteers' explanations are very detailed, especially the story of Ekai Kawaguchi, which is worth taking your time to savor.

The timing was just right, so I got to see the Fudō Hall. I could picture what the terakoya was like.

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I visited with the 3-museum combo ticket. You can see it together with the Gun Museum (Teppōkan). It seems it was a Shugendō site and something close to a terakoya. The building is old and an Important Cultural Property, but it's a place you can see quickly; there are displays of historical materials.

Shugendō mountain worship that survives in the middle of town. Apparently since 1573 it has offered prayers for the townspeople, given out amulets, prescribed medicine, and named babies. Ordinary Edo-period girls and boys—not children of samurai families—sat at Tenjin desks in the terakoya here to study. Apparently there were 19 terakoya in Sakai. You can sit at the cute antique seats here, over 200 years old, and take photos. Ekai Kawaguchi—in the Meiji era, no way, impossible?!—the monk who crossed the world's barriers in search of sutras and entered Tibet, studied here at the end of the Edo period. They also let you see the hall from the inside. The Fudō statue can apparently be seen during special openings. That day, the ikebana teacher happened to be changing the flower arrangements. The flowers in the garden were blooming beautifully too. I also decided I definitely want to go to Kissa Rack, with its egg sandwiches, in front of Takasu Shrine, which they told me about here.

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