Kurama-dera Temple

Kurama-dera is a temple whose grounds cover Mt. Kurama, north of the Kyoto basin. It enshrines three deities, Bishamonten, Senju Kannon (the Thousand-Armed Kannon) and Goho Maoson, together known as "Sonten". From the Niomon gate just outside Kurama Station on the Eizan Electric Railway, a mountain path climbs to the Main Hall on the mountainside and on past the Okunoin Maoden toward Kibune, so a visit combines temple-going and a mountain walk.

According to temple tradition, the monk Gantei built a thatched hermitage in 770 and enshrined Bishamonten there. Another account says Fujiwara no Iseto enshrined a Senju Kannon and founded the temple in 796, and this version is considered largely historical because of a record in the Nihon Koki. The temple later changed from the Shingon to the Tendai school and came under the control of Shoren-in. After the loss of its buildings in 1945, Koun Shigaraki founded the Kurama Kokyo sect in 1947, and in 1949 the temple became independent from Tendai as its head temple. The present Main Hall was rebuilt in 1971. The principal image is a hidden statue shown only once every 60 years, in a hinoe-tora year; at other times a substitute figure called Omaedachi is enshrined.

Near the Niomon stands Yuki Shrine, famous for the Kurama Fire Festival; its worship hall is an Important Cultural Property, and the sacred cedar called "Osugi-san", said to be about 800 years old, is loved as a deity of fertility and safe childbirth. You can climb the zigzag approach that Sei Shonagon mentioned in The Pillow Book, or ride the cable car, which covers a height difference of about 89 m in roughly two minutes between Sanmon and Tahoto stations. Behind the Main Hall, places linked to the legend that Ushiwakamaru, the future Minamoto no Yoshitsune, learned swordsmanship from tengu are scattered along the path: Sojogadani Fudodo, the Seikurabe-ishi (height-comparing stone), the Tree Root Path, Yoshitsune-do and the Ikitsugi spring. The path leads to the Okunoin Maoden, a small hall on a rock outcrop that enshrines Goho Maoson.

The Reihoden (Kurama-yama Museum) is easy to visit even in rain. The first floor shows natural science exhibits on the animals, plants and minerals of the mountain, the second floor holds temple treasures and a memorial room with belongings of the poet Yosano Akiko, and the third floor displays Buddhist statues and treasures, including the Heian-period National Treasure statue of Bishamonten carved from a single block of unpainted wood. Kurama-dera holds National Treasures that include statues of Bishamonten, Kichijoten and Zennishi Doji and the relics from the Kurama-dera sutra mound, and the grounds also contain Tobaitei, Yosano Akiko's study moved from Ogikubo.

Among annual events, the Takekiri-e on June 20 is well known: in memory of the monk Buen's slaying of a giant serpent, participants compete in cutting green bamboo, and it is a Kyoto City registered intangible folk cultural property. The Hatsutora Daisai is held on the first Tiger day of January. The Kurama Fire Festival on October 22 belongs to Yuki Shrine, not to Kurama-dera.

It takes about 30 minutes on foot from Kurama Station to the Main Hall, or about 10 minutes on foot from Tahoto Station if you take the cable car. If you continue to the Okunoin and cross over to Kibune, visiting Kibune Shrine, allow a relaxed half day. From the West Gate on the Kibune side to the Main Hall takes about 50 minutes for an adult man, which is harder than climbing from the Kurama side.