Nagano City Trips & Tours

Nagano grew up around Zenkoji, a 1,400-year-old temple that houses Japan's first Buddhist statue – although nobody's actually seen it since the seventh century. Even the replica only comes out once every six or seven years, so what draws millions here isn't the viewing but the doing. And that doing is descending into a tunnel beneath the altar to find the 'Key to Paradise' by touch alone, or rising before dawn to kneel on the stone approach as the head priest passes, touching prayer beads to the foreheads of gathered worshippers. Stay overnight in one of 39 shukubo temple lodgings and you'll be woken for the o-asaji morning service, then served shojin ryori – the delicious vegetarian cuisine that once fuelled monks on mountain pilgrimages. Those monks were heading to Togakushi, a highland site where five shrines are connected by forest trail. The approach to Okusha (the innermost shrine) passes through an avenue of 400-year-old cedars, their trunks so vast they block out the sky. Afterwards, settle into a soba restaurant and watch your noodles arrive bocchi-mori style – five horseshoe bundles arranged on a handmade bamboo tray, one for each shrine in the forest above.