Seisen Ryo lodge. The X on the cross is that of the Japan Brotherhood of St. Andrews.

The view of the fields from Seisen Ryo.

At nearly every location in the highlands, one will catch a glimpse of Fuji-san.

The people of Yastugatake have a special relationship to the earth, having for generations lived in harmony with it, thankful for the bounty of harvest it provides, while being sensitive to treat it with the utmost of respect and care.

The Yatsugatake Mountain Range from just above Nagazawa village as you enter the highlands.

Seisen Ryo and the Yatsugatake Highlands

Seisen Ryo lodge is located in the small village of Kiyosato, which is on the mountain pass just past Nagazawa, where the Koshimizu home is located.

The lodge was built as a retreat house for young members of the Japan Brotherhood of St. Andrews, as an extension of St. Lukes University, which is now Rikkyo University in Tokyo.

The lodge and this area is an amazing 1.5 hour train ride through some of the most beautiful parts of Japan, including the central mountains and valleys, the Katsunuma Wine country, and finally Kobuchizawa and the Minami Alps. The Komei train line into Kiyosato station is the highest rail line in Japan.

The vision and need for a place apart and retreat from Tokyo in which his college students and later all people could experience a closer relationship to spirit, was that of an American from Kentucky who's name was Paul Rusch. 

Rusch came to Japan to help the YMCA rebuild after the devastating earthquake that reduced Tokyo and most of the Kanto plain to rubble. His intention was to stay only one year, but by request of his pastor who was a misionary bishop of the Episcopal church, Rusch agreed to stay one more year. Other then a short time during WWII, he remained a resident of Japan for the rest of his life.

His vision included many things. He believed the people of the Yatsugatake highlands could emerge as a community of faith, centered in a close connectedness to each other and to the earth on which they farmed.

Through his efforts, this area became a model for modern highland agricultural methods, but perhaps even more interesting, a model of how democratic practices of individual freedom, expression, faith and closeness to Spirit, could be introduced to a society in a peaceful way. This area became the seed of democracy in Japan post WWII.

While Rusch was closely associated with the Christian church in Japan, his beliefs differed in several ways and were much more inclusive. Rusch once commented during a talk to US and high governmental officals in Tokyo: "I want to do just a little of what Jesus did. I want to help the whole man. Not just cure his body or save his  soul".  He was saying: "I want to help these people in the Yatsugatake Highlands, have a new way of life, of being alive. Acceptance of any religion or singular religious belief is not important. What is important is is to help the whole of a person. In my case, growing up as a Christian, I believe Jesus, as did Budda and others, left us a model of how to live our life. What does it matter if we, in our particular religious belief, get a person to accept or agree with us, perhaps believing by so doing that we have "saved" their soul, when we do nothing to actually help the whole of who they are."  Until shortly before he died, Rusch worked to this end tirelessly. Nowhere in Japan is there stronger evidence, even today of the immensely positive influence this had on the people. 

Mr. Yoshihiko Koshimizu of the Koshimizu House, is a member of the board of an organization called KEEP, which was the ultimate outcome organization of Rusch's efforts. Mr. Koshimizu remembers well as a child how "Paul-san" positively changed the way of life in the Yatsugatake highlands.

Seisen Ryo, retreat cabins, the small St. Andrews mountain chapel and the KEEP grounds are a wonderful space to step apart and reconnect. The Yastugatake highland area provides this as well.

From the numerous wooded trails to deep gorges and waterfalls, or high mountain tops, the Yatsugatake areas provides one of the earths most sacred places to be a part of all.