Joruri-ji

photo by z tanuki · CC BY 3.0

photo by ONO Masanobu · CC0

In the eleventh century thirty halls with nine statues of Amida were built here: this is the only one left.

Nine statues of the Amida Buddha (the Buddha of infinite light, worshipped for welcoming the faithful into his western paradise) seated in a row inside a single hall, eight identical ones at the sides and a larger one in the centre: this was a common iconography in the Pure Land worship of the late Heian period, when some thirty ‘nine-Amida halls’ were built in Kyoto. All have disappeared except this one. The pond in front, with an island and a three-storey pagoda on the opposite bank, reproduces in miniature the western paradise that the statues watch over: the pilgrim crosses the bridge as if crossing the threshold.

Founded in the Nara period and rebuilt in 1107 with the hall that houses the nine statues, today all nine are National Treasures, together with the hall itself and the three-storey pagoda: four National Treasure designations in a single temple, among the highest concentrations in Kyoto for such a secluded site.

ℹ️ Open 9:00–17:00 from March to November (last entry 16:30), 10:00–16:00 from December to February (last entry 15:30). Tickets 500 yen for adults, 150 yen for elementary school students. Reachable by bus from Kizu or from Nara, which the temple almost borders.

🚉 浄瑠璃寺 · 2 min walk

Sources: pref.kyoto.jp · city.kizugawa.lg.jp

All series · Open the map