"Taseki-Ji near Fujinamia" Fujinomiya by Lionman

Tozan means a pilgrimage to the Head Temple at Taiseki-ji of the Nichiren Shochu Buddhist order, followers of the most recent Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin. The head temple grounds cover an area of many many acres on the plane immediatelty adjacent to Mount Fuji near the town of Fujinomiya. Fopr details of the many temples on the site see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiseki-ji

We travelled from Tokyo to Fujinamiya on the Shinkanzen or Bullet Train. This was more like riding in a passenger jet than a train and was surgically clean, as smooth a ride as a luxury car and as fast as a private jet.

After a first night in a nearby Riokan (traditional Japanese family Inn) we stayed in one of 22 lodging temples on the site and attended a number of ceremonies over many days, returniung to the same Riokan for a single night before returning to Tokyo. There we stayed a night in a conventional hotel near Narita International airport before flying back to the UK.

Japanese shopkeeper and his dog.

The Head Temple grounds are like a small Buddhist Town and their buildings are all really beautiful. On the edges of the grounds are several small streets of fascinating little shops selling votive items and Buddhist pariphinelia. The Japanese proprietors are all Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist themselves and as with the majority of people in Japan are extremely helpful, courteous and friendly. Like every where else in Japan, there is no litter and evn the dogs are as clean as if freshly laundered.

Blue Corrugated Iron on a shop wall.

Japan is an extraordinary environment visually. Just as every house and building in the Greek Islands echoes the proportions of the Parthanon, so every building and surface in Japan somehow reflects their sensitivity to colour, design and graphic impact. Corrugated iron is a material much used in buildings in rural and poorer city areas, as it is stronger than wood and paper yet light in the event of earthquake-induced building collapse. But even such an unappealing and prosaic material can be made beautiful as the pictures illustrates, turning an ugly blank wall into a visual delight.

• Pros:The closest town to Mount Fuji and a very clean place.
• Cons:Extrremely busy traffic, industrial suburbs with smoke polltion.
• In a nutshell:A staging post on the route to Mount Fuji and Taiseki-ji, not a place to linger in for its own sake, as it is simply an industrial town with suburbs.