Over dinner a friend told us of an extraordinary place, deep in the mountains of Tottori Prefecture. When a long-time Kyoto resident says their favourite temple is one NOT in Kyoto, you know must be worth a visit. Without giving us any details, they piqued our interest enough to make us get in the car and drive for several hours to see it.
I had never heard of Nageiredo – a strange name which means ‘Throw-in temple’ and was intrigued as to what kind of a place it was. It turned out to be somewhere which both tested our courage and delighted us.
Normally when you enter a temple in Japan they charge you about Y300 and maybe ask you to take your shoes off before you go in. At Nageiredo they charge you Y600, ask for your mobile phone number, write down what time you get there, give you a bright sash to wear and check your shoes. “What kind of a place is this?” we wondered, grateful that we had put on hiking boots that morning.
As we headed off into the trees to find the temple we were met by exhausted looking people coming the other way. Normally friendly hikers say “Ganbatte” (keep going) when they pass you on a winding path. Here they said “Taihen desu yo!” (It’s really tough).
We looked at each other nervously and kept on walking. Soon we came face to face with a massive wall of ancient tree roots. Looking up, and up, about 20 feet above us we saw a giant tree. In order to get past that tree and onto the path beyond it was clear we needed to scale the vertical wall of roots. Bear in mind that we had no climbing gear, or any mental preparation.
My man went up first, and I followed behind. I was fine until half way up when I looked down and noticed that the ground dropped away behind the path, so if I were to fall I would plummet 50 feet or so down the side of the mountain. This made me rather nervous. And as it was a natural tree, there were no steps. You had to find your footing wherever you could, and haul yourself up by grasping the roots above you.
Although I am normally adventurous and fairly gung-ho, on this occasion I found myself completely frozen. What if I fall? I don’t want a broken leg here in this remote part of Japan. What if I break my arm and can’t type anymore? Or what if I crack my head open and lose my memory? (Crazy thoughts that race through your mind in a moment of fear…) My man had climbed up first and was encouraging me from above but I must have looked really worried because he gently said “We can go back if you like.”
It was tempting, but at that moment I thought about Do What You Love, and the principles I try to live for, and the way I spend so much of my time encouraging others to harness their fear, that I chose to go on. I could feel adrenaline coursing through my body, and visualized it firing me up the mountain. In that moment I turned my fear into fuel, and bound up the side of the wall of roots.
For the next hour we went onwards and upwards, scrambling over many more roots, up trees, over giant boulders, up sheer walls with the help of a chain someone had kindly stuck into the mountainside, on and on. After that initial fear, at no point did I think of turning back, and the adventure became more fun with every obstacle we clambered over.
When we got to the top, a treasure was waiting for us.
The ‘Throw in temple’ looked like it had been thrown into the mountainside by the gods. The path stopped about 20 metres away from the temple which hung suspended from the cliff face, with no visible access route. It was haunting and beautiful, and I have no idea how they built it. And it was all the more precious a view because of the journey we had taken to get there.
It reminded me that very few good things ever happen without taking some sort of risk, and that feeling the fear can either paralyse you or drive you forward, depending on how you choose to use it.
Next time you feel afraid, choose to harness that fear and see what happens.
You may surprise yourself with just how powerful you are.
