A secluded place of stillness, on no tourist itinerary
Beyond the temples and the trains lies another Japan — one of secret history, untouched nature, and a way of living the modern world has forgotten. Across two family temples, one in the mountains and one by the sea, you step into the real thing: the rhythm of the land, the warmth of the people who keep it, and the quiet practice of Zen that gives it all meaning. A richer life, found in the stillness.
Touch the authentic. Taste the organic.
Remember how to be still.
Zazen in a hall that opens to the sea
A Zen temple on a rise overlooking the harbour — true zazen, and dialogue with the monk. There are no answers here, only a place to notice what you had not seen in yourself. Sweeping the wide garden — samu — awakens a focus you had lost, and lets you become one with the community. The practice at the heart of Zen reshapes how you live each day. You settle into the land, its nature, and its people — together with the stillness.
Above a sea of clouds, in a village of fewer than two thousand
High in the mountains, where morning brings a valley of cloud to your feet, sits a temple in a hamlet of fewer than two thousand people. Days are unhurried: zazen amid vast nature, slow hours in forest and by river, and quiet hands-on healing to release everything the city left in the body.
Days woven from the place itself
Zazen
Sit with a monk who lives the practice — in a mountain hall, and in a temple that opens to the sea.
Bodywork & Healing
Quiet, hands-on treatment to unwind body and mind after the journey in.
With the Fishermen
Put out at first light and share the work, and the catch, of the day.
The Organic Table
What the mountain and the sea quietly give, prepared with care.
Samu — Cleaning as Practice
Sweeping the garden, tending the grounds: in Zen, cleaning is moving meditation — a quiet detox of body, mind, and space.
Among the People
Not a tour — a genuine mingling with a community of fewer than two thousand.
Zen × Wellbeing
Everything here turns on one quiet center: authentic Zen. Not a performance for visitors, but the real practice that has shaped these temples for generations — carried by a monk who lives it. From that stillness, a richer, truer life comes into view.
The rhythm of a day in robes
You don't watch temple life — you live it. Ring the great bell, fold your hands in gassho, take up the broom, and sit zazen with the bay before you. Even the sweeping is practice: a clearing of the grounds, and of the mind.
Organic, seasonal, and entirely of this place
Meals are drawn from the mountain and the sea around you — simple, seasonal, and quietly extraordinary. Shared at a low table with the temple and the people of the town, a meal here is less a course than a conversation.
The Other Sides
We open Japan's living temples — and the quiet wellbeing of Zen — to a few guests at a time: authentic practice, the people who keep it, and the stillness the modern world forgot.
The authentic Zen retreat The Other Sides is reaching for — turning rural Zen temples into places of wellbeing, open to all.
Every retreat is composed entirely around you — its length, its temples, its rhythm — so the stay is arranged by private inquiry.
A private two-night stay, by private arrangement
Fully bespoke, multi-temple retreats are composed entirely around you — including lodging at the temple, all seasonal meals, private zazen and dialogue with the monk, healing sessions, and the local experiences of mountain and sea. Private transport, interpretation, and dietary needs (vegetarian, Jain, halal) are arranged on request.
A portion of all proceeds is donated to Zen training temples.
Begin a conversation
Share a few details and we'll email you a private link to schedule a call — where we listen to your wishes and design the retreat around you.
By private arrangement · fully bespoke