Mt Yudono and Mt Gassan, Gassan paper

Oisawa district is a valley running southward from the headwaters of Sagaegawa located deep within the Nishikawa in the far southwest. Looking north from Oisawa, Mt. Gassan appears above the clear river. This area is sometimes called “ the Japanese Tibet”. Near the old highway along the river where in the winter the heavy snowfall piles up to more than two meters stands the ruins of a huge temple with lined up cornerstones marking an area the size of a soccer field or a small village.