Engyoji

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

photo by Hotate Chan · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Last Samurai was filmed here: the hall on the cliff recalls Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera.

The complex, called ‘the Mount Hiei of the west’ for its role in the Tendai school of Buddhism, stands at the top of Mount Shosha and is reached by a four-minute ropeway ride plus a short walk uphill. The Maniden, the main hall, is built out over a slope on a scaffold of wooden posts, the same technique as Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera. The three halls beside it (Daikōdō, Jikidō and Jōgyōdō, known together as Mitsu-no-dō) are Important Cultural Properties and were used as a set for the Hollywood film *The Last Samurai* (2003), as well as for several Japanese television productions.

Founded in 966 by the monk Shōkū, it belongs to the Tendai school of Buddhism and is the 27th temple of the Saigoku pilgrimage to the thirty-three places sacred to Kannon.

ℹ️ Open 8:30–18:00 from spring to autumn (until 17:00 in winter). Temple admission 800 yen for adults; ropeway 1,000 yen return, sold separately. Wheelchair hire and accessible facilities available.

🚉 Nissaka · 26 min walk

Sources: himeji-kanko.jp · shosha.or.jp

All series · Open the map