Welcome to Beyond Edo, a blog about my solo pilgrimage to Japan. 

From 1603 until 1868 (the Edo period) Tokyo was known as Edo. This adventure will take us far beyond Edo.

Over the next four weeks, I plan to explore ancient shrines and temples, including Horyuji Temple in Nara which is the oldest surviving wooden structure in the world (built in 607), and the Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine, where 10,000 torii gates line the famed torii path winding 2 ½ miles up Mount Inari. (I will make this trek at night to see the city lights from above Kyoto).

On this journey I will also walk through the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and visit the Nagano Prefecture in the north to see the snow monkeys as they come down the mountain to soak up the warmth of the natural hot springs in Jigokudani Valley. On my way to the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, I plan to stop by Japan’s most iconic torii at the Itsukushima Shrine on the island of Miyajima.

Elsewhere in the country I’ll attend the Grand Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka, take a workshop on Ukiyo-e woodblock printing, visit the Matsuda Bookbinding shop (also taking a workshop here to learn the craft), go to the Minamiza Kabuki Theater, and much more.

Thanks for coming along, and I hope you enjoy the ride with me.

A note about the Torii in the logo: there are hundreds of thousands of Torii gates throughout Japan. A symbol that has long been special to me, walking through a Torii gate marks going from the mundane into the sacred…