Yamadera
The popular name of Risshaku-ji, a temple whose halls cling to steep, forested rock northeast of Yamagata. A climb of around a thousand stone steps leads to the viewpoints, and the poet Basho wrote his haiku of cicadas and stillness here.
- Where
- Yamagata, Yamagata, Japan
- Grade
- Local gem
- Worth
- 10 points collected on site
- Coordinates
- 38.3126, 140.4374
Get the Yamadera stamp
Open LOQAH when you are at Yamadera. It checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp is yours: confirmed on site in gold and struck with the date. It goes into your Yamagata volume with your photos and a note.
Near Yamadera
Matsushima 56 km
A bay in Miyagi dotted with some 260 small islands covered in pine trees, which give it its name: pine islands. It is one of the Three Views of Japan, seen from sightseeing boats or from the hills around the bay.
Chuson-ji 96 km
The head Tendai temple of the Tohoku region, set on a wooded hill in Hiraizumi. Its Konjikido, a small hall covered inside and out in gold leaf, holds the remains of the Fujiwara lords who ruled the north from here, and it is part of a World Heritage Site.
Nikkō Tōshō-gū 188 km
The shrine where Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, is enshrined, set among tall cedars in Nikkō. Its buildings are lavishly carved, painted and gilded, from the Yōmeimon gate to the famous panel of the three wise monkeys.
Futarasan Shrine 188 km
A Shinto shrine in Nikkō, beside Tōshō-gū, dedicated to the gods of the sacred mountains around the town. Both it and a shrine in Utsunomiya claim to be the ichinomiya, the first shrine, of old Shimotsuke Province.
Rinnō-ji 188 km
A Tendai Buddhist temple in Nikkō, the most important temple among the town's shrines and temples. Its main hall, the Sanbutsudō, holds three large gilded statues of Buddhist deities.
Kegon Falls 194 km
A waterfall of about 97 metres where Lake Chūzenji spills into the Daiya River, in Nikkō National Park. It formed when lava flows rerouted the river, and about twelve smaller falls seep from cracks in the rock around it.
Lake Chūzenji 195 km
A lake high in Nikkō National Park, formed some 20,000 years ago when an eruption of Mount Nantai blocked a river. Its shores are lined with maples that turn red in autumn, and foreign embassies once kept summer villas along it.
Jigokudani Monkey Park 247 km
A steep valley in Joshinetsu Kogen National Park where wild Japanese macaques soak in hot spring pools, most memorably in winter snow. The name means Hell's Valley, for the steam and boiling water that rise from cracks in the frozen ground.
Questions
Where is Yamadera?
Yamadera is in Yamagata, Yamagata, Japan. The nearest other LOQAH stamps are Matsushima (56 km), Chuson-ji (96 km), Nikkō Tōshō-gū (188 km).
How do I get the Yamadera stamp?
Open LOQAH when you are at Yamadera and get its stamp. The app checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp goes into your Yamagata volume, confirmed on site, with the date.
I have been to Yamadera before. Can I still have the stamp?
Yes. Add it from Earlier trips in your Yamagata volume, with the date if you know it, or import your Google Timeline and LOQAH matches the places you were.
Collect your first stamp.
LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.