As Japan’s popularity soars, many travelers want to experience the country beyond the usual crowded hotspots. I’ve been on ...

The first instalment of this four-part series looks at some of the early figures who paved the way for marathon runners in ...

These 17th century monks chose to slowly mummify themselves over a decade to achieve enlightenment...all so they could help ...

A Japanese Buddhist monk who adopted an abandoned dog was saved by the canine during a fierce bear attack. Tougen Yoshihara, the abbot of Youkoku Temple, a historic temple in Niigata in central ...

Tokyo - A Japanese Buddhist monk on Wednesday finished a gruelling nine-day ritual without eating, drinking, or sleeping as he chanted sutras 100 000 times, reports said. The 41-year-old Kogen ...

A Japanese monk performs rituals at Abbasahib Cheena Buddhist Complex, Swat. — Dawn SWAT: Junsei Terasawa, a prominent Buddhist monk from Japan, on Sunday emphasised the profound historical and ...

‘When I was a child, I would take the pink cloth that was used for wrapping monk robes and wear it on my head to dress up as Ariel from “The Little Mermaid”.’ When asked if he ever ...

Why did these monks in Japan choose to mummify themselves? The sacred mountains of Yamagata are home to 13 sokushinbutsu, who are believed to be in a state of deep meditation between life and death.

Dedicated Japanese monks spent years going through the horrifying process of turning themselves into mummies whilst they were still alive, mimicking a ninth-century monk named Kūkai ...

For example, he studied Chinese calligraphy, painting, poems and architecture. All of those influences were taken back to Japan by Kukai," says Zou, who conducted deep research into the monk.