In the year 717 AD a Buddhist monk climbed Mt Hakusan in Japan.
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| Mt Hakusan |
To put this period in historical perspective the Roman Empire had fallen and the world was dealing with the aftermath. There would have been people alive in those days who would have lived in the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Great Britain had not yet been invaded, but soon would be, by the vikings. That lets you know how far back we are talking about.
His name was Taicho Daishi and he spent a year there carrying out rigorous spiritual practices. At the end of this period he had a dream. In the dream he was told,
”Lying 20-24 kilometers from the base of the mountain is a village called Awazu. There, you'll find an underground hot spring with wondrous restorative powers that Yakushi Nyorai (the Physician of Souls) has bestowed upon it. The people of the village, however, do not known of this good fortune. Descend the mountain and head to Awazu. With the people of the village unearth the hot spring-it will serve them forever."
Daishi went down to the village, uncovered the hot spring, and it was noticed that some sick people immersed in the water were cured immediately and their health restored. He bestowed the task of building a spa building at the site upon his disciple Garyo Hōshi, who really took this task to heart. In fact, Hōshi’s family have diligently run a modest business at the site for nearly 1300 years. Hōshi has survived the rise and fall of the Samurai, the Ninja, many Japanese emperors and two world wars. His family have been running the business continuously for 46 generations. It is still running to this day as a spa. One of the oldest spas in the world.
With such a history, when the Guiness Book of Records investigated the Hoshi Ryoku, for inclusion imagine their disappointment to discover that there was in fact an even older spa in Japan. This spa had been founded in 705 and had been running for 52 generations, the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan! But I reckon the Hoshi Ryoku has a whole mystical side that keeps it high on my list of favourite places to visit.
