Zen temple retreat at Hokoji promotes spiritual tourism

Enjoy lodging in a traditional temple and spend a luxurious time there. The time spent staying in a traditional building and experiencing Japanese culture is often more fulfilling than time spent in new tourist facilities.

Hokoji Temple, the head temple of the Rinzai school’s Hokoji sect, which is the largest Buddist temple in the Tokai region, and ShareWing Inc., which has developed OTERA STAY, an accommodation and experience service brand in temples, have entered a business agreement to start sales of order-made stays from February 2023. It is limited to one group of people per day, and a maximum of 70 people can stay. They provide excellent customized and unique accommodations plans that let users design the stay that is best for them.

About OTERA STAY

The brand message of OTERA STAY is “Find Your Path – Going with you on a journey to find the best way to live.” Through this brand message, they provide experiences that let users seek out discoveries and new countries to change themselves throughout the long journey of their lives. They aim to adjust the balance between users’ emotions, body and mind.

As a form of “transformative travel,” the temple guesthouse particularly offers opportunities to experience a “spiritual rhythm” through several fields and with various elements such as exchanges with local people and a sense of adventure. It is expected that this service will also contribute to local communities as sustainable tourism content unique to Japan.

Main Temple Guesthouse Custom Accommodation Plan

Hokoji is a zen temple that was opened in year two of Japan’s Kentoku era (1371) by the zen monk Mumon Gensen, the son of Emperor Go-Daigo. It is a famous temple which has 22 buildings which are Japanese Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on its expansive grounds. For many years, the temple has provided zen meditation experiences and lodging for various corporate employee training, as well as schools and educational institutions. These include major companies such as Yamada Motor Company and Toshiba.

However, recent years have seen a gradual decrease in usage, due to reductions in organizational trainings by companies, and the changing shape and demand of school trips. Adding to these issues, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact. Therefore, they now have taken the plunge into providing this new stay plan.

Free Stay Plan

Until now, the temple has provided a group of programs that include zen meditation, meals and lodging in accordance with a time schedule they set. With this new plan, ShareWing, which acts as a concierge, interviews guests about their preferences in advance. They take the whole plan into account, including what the temple can implement as well as the budget, and design an order-made stay plan that is the best for the guest group. By being able to provide a flexible stay, the temple can both attract new kinds of clients and provide an experience that lets customers feel the appeal of the temple in a multi-faceted way.

Luxurious use of the temple with reservation

This new plan being sold is limited to one group per day, with the maximum number of users being 70 people. It was also created with new demands in mind, such as workcations and retreats. It is a luxurious and unique plan that lets customers reserve a guesthouse in a main temple of Zen Buddhism.

Embodying transformative travel (travels that change you)

A new English site was opened in anticipation of inbound tourists from abroad. Systems that help accept these guests, such as creating English versions of signs in the temple, are maintained. Embracing the increasing worldwide interest in content that aims to adjust the mind and body, such as zen culture, mindfulness and yoga, this policy also attempts to draw in overseas tourists.

The main hall, which can accommodate several hundred people, features the strengths of Hokoji Temple, such as experiences and spaces that can only be encountered here. These include Japanese rooms that can hold meetings of several dozen people, extraordinary spaces surrounded by expansive nature, and authentic zen meditation instruction offered by zen priests with strict and extensive training. Additionally, you can feel the world of Buddhism through authentic Shojin Ryori (Buddhist cuisine).

Japan is rapidly developing the infrastructure to deliver travel experiences to the rest of the world that enable visitors to change themselves through immersion in traditional culture and spiritual reflection.

Originally published on Livhub.
Translated by Chris Lee.