お客様の送迎の帰りで、千曲市森地区の前から気に入った所によりました：観龍寺。信濃の国三十三番札所の第六番だそうで、以前から地元の方に見るべきだとお勧めされました。今日はちょっと時間があったので、行って見ました。森の「杏の里」の谷に地区に入れば、「観龍寺」の看板が出ます。矢印通りに行けば、無事にお寺の手前の駐車場に着きました。途中の道が工事中だから、これから綺麗になるみたいです。駐車場の横に泉から綺麗なお水が出ていて、水の流れの音で良い雰囲気。お寺の前の急な石階段を登って、大きな門を潜って、その素敵な茅葺屋根のお寺が見えました。今はまだ冬だから回りの木は枝だけ；葉っぱが入ればなお綺麗だと思います。あと６週間ぐらいで森の杏の花が咲く予定です；その時にまた期待。
観龍寺の歴史は１３８０年間という想像も付かないような年数です。本当に感動しました。お寺や門の天井の絵も１つ１つ面白いです。お寺の東側の龍の絵も格好いい！さすが観龍寺だ！
千曲市森地区の観龍寺は戸倉上山田温泉から車で約３０分。
On the way back from dropping some guests off in Chikuma City's Mori district, I had some time to spare so I went on a search for Kanryu-ji Temple. I had seen it on maps before, and some recent guests had talked about it, so I was curious as to what the temple was like. After entering Mori, also known as "Apricot Village", signs for Kanryu-ji appeared. I followed the signs up to the temple's parking lot. Next to the lot is a fresh water spring with clean, sparkling water making a captivating gurgling sound. From the parking lot, you climb up a bunch of stone steps, go through the cool wooden "mon" arch, and come upon the thatched roof temple building. Since it's still winter, all the surrounding trees are bare, but I bet when spring comes the forest-like setting is pretty spectacular. I am sure I'll be coming back to Mori in a few weeks to see the apricot blossoms -- I hope to come back to Kanryu-ji then, too. The temple and arch are covered in hand-painted wood tiles, and on the temple's east side is a really cool painting of a dragon. That makes sense since Kanryu-ji's "ryu" means dragon.
Kanryu-ji is #6 on Nagano's 33-Temples tour. It supposedly has a mind-bogginly long 1380 year history. If you're in the area, check it out.
観龍寺の詳しくはこちらClick here for more info (in Japanese) on Kanryu-ji.
Kanryu-ji Temple facade
Close-up of the woodwork
Stone Step Approach
The Temple's Bell
