Antaiji (安泰寺) sits in remote mountain country in Hyogo Prefecture, near the village of Shin-onsen on the northern coast of Honshu in Japan. The setting is steep wooded mountain country with significant snowfall in winter; the monastery is genuinely isolated, requiring driving the last stretch on a narrow mountain road. Antaiji is a Soto Zen monastery in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition, but its character has departed from the standard Japanese Soto temple model in ways that make it unusual within Japanese Zen. The monastery was founded in 1921 in Kyoto by Kodo Sawaki Roshi, one of the most influential 20th-century Japanese Soto Zen teachers, who emphasized return to traditional zazen practice (shikantaza) and lay Zen training. After Sawaki's death in 1965, the monastery was led by his successor Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, an equally influential teacher whose books on Soto Zen practice (Opening the Hand of Thought, How to Cook Your Life, and others) have been widely translated and read internationally. In the 1970s, the monastery moved from Kyoto to its current remote mountain site under Uchiyama's successor Koho Watanabe, who reshaped Antaiji as a self-sufficient farming Zen monastery. The monastery grows much of its own food, heats with wood from the surrounding forest, and follows a daily life that integrates traditional zazen practice with substantial agricultural and physical work. The form is unusual in Japanese Zen, where most temples have moved away from such intensive self-sufficient farming. Muho Noelke, a German Soto Zen monk, served as abbot from 2002 to 2020 and made Antaiji widely accessible to international practitioners through his English- and German-language teaching, his books, and his published online writings about life at the monastery. Eko Little, an American monk, has continued the monastery's international engagement. The combination of remote location, self-sufficient farming, traditional shikantaza practice, and international accessibility through Western abbots gives Antaiji a distinctive character among Japanese Zen monasteries.
The daily form combines traditional Soto Zen monastic schedule (zazen, kinhin, oryoki meals, sutra chanting, sweeping) with substantial agricultural and physical work in the surrounding forest and fields. Wake-up is around 3:45 a.m. with extended morning zazen, breakfast, and morning work. The schedule alternates work and zazen through the day with a midday meal and afternoon work or zazen. Evening zazen and Compline. Sesshin periods (typically held five times per year, lasting five days each) intensify the zazen schedule with reduced work; daily life outside sesshin emphasizes the integration of work and practice.
The teaching line is Japanese Soto Zen by way of Kodo Sawaki Roshi and Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, two of the most influential 20th-century Soto Zen teachers internationally. The monastery's emphasis on traditional shikantaza practice and on integration of practice with everyday work draws directly on Sawaki's and Uchiyama's teaching. Recent abbots, including Muho Noelke (2002-2020) and current leadership, have made the monastery accessible to international practitioners through English- and German-language teaching.
Western Zen students drawn to traditional Soto Zen practice in Japan, particularly the Sawaki / Uchiyama lineage of return to shikantaza and integration of practice with everyday life.
Practitioners able to commit to multi-month residency at the monastery, integrating traditional zazen with substantial agricultural and physical work in remote mountain conditions.
Practitioners drawn to the monastery's international accessibility through English- and German-language teaching, alongside its commitment to traditional Japanese Soto Zen practice.
Arrival is at the monastery gate after a long drive on mountain roads from the nearest train station. Visitors check in and are oriented to monastic protocol and the daily schedule. The form is rigorous: substantial physical work alongside zazen, modest accommodation, and the demands of self-sufficient mountain living. Cold-weather clothing is essential outside summer; significant snow holds in winter. The monastery accepts long-term residents (typically minimum stays of one or three months for residential training) and short-term guests (briefer stays during sesshin or other open periods).
The monastery includes the main hall, residential buildings, dining hall, kitchen, work buildings, and surrounding fields and forest. Lodging is in shared rooms with shared bathrooms; the form is intentionally simple. Meals are vegetarian, much of the food grown on the monastery's land, taken oryoki-style during formal monastic meals and more informally at other times. Walking grounds extend into the surrounding mountain forest.
The monastery operates on a work-based economic model. Long-term residents contribute through work practice; short-term visitors during sesshin or other open periods may have specific arrangements with daily fees published. Specific current arrangements should be confirmed directly through the monastery; the form has been more work-and-residence than fee-based.
A self-sufficient farming Soto Zen monastery in remote Japanese mountains, in the Sawaki-Uchiyama lineage.
More accessible than most Japanese Zen monasteries. Recent abbots (Muho Noelke, Eko Little) have made the monastery actively accessible to international practitioners through English- and German-language teaching. The remote mountain location and the rigorous form of self-sufficient farming Zen are demanding; the form itself is not easier for international visitors, but communication and orientation are well supported.
The monastery is self-sufficient: growing much of its own food, heating with wood from the surrounding forest, and integrating substantial physical work with traditional zazen practice. The form is unusual in modern Japanese Zen, where most temples have moved away from such intensive self-sufficient farming. Daily life integrates work and practice rather than separating them into temple work and meditation periods.
Sesshin periods are typically held five times per year, lasting five days each, and intensify the zazen schedule. Outside sesshin, daily life follows the work-and-practice rhythm with substantial zazen integrated. Long-term residency is the most common form of engagement; short-term visits during sesshin or other open periods are also possible with prior arrangement.
Recent abbots have made the monastery internationally accessible through English- and German-language teaching. Daily instruction, individual interviews, and orientation can be navigated by English-speaking practitioners. Some Japanese is helpful for longer stays. The monastery's website (in multiple languages) lists current arrangements for international visitors.
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