Saimyō-ji

photo by kajikawa · CC BY 3.0

The only one of the three Takao temples without a flight of steps: five minutes from the bus stop.

From the bus stop you walk down, cross a red bridge over the stream and walk up a path: five minutes, no steps. Inside there is the main hall, a garden, and a statue of the historical Buddha attributed to the sculptor Unkei. The whole visit takes half an hour, and there is hardly anyone there.

Founded between 824 and 834 by Chisen, a direct disciple of the monk Kūkai, as a dependency of Jingo-ji, the other temple in the area. It is the smallest of the three Takao temples.

ℹ️ Open 9:00–17:00. ⚠️ The price cannot be read: it is inside an image on the temple's page and is not stated as text. ⚠️ The temple has no car park and says so plainly. From Kyoto Station the JR bus to the ‘Makinoo’ bus stop takes about fifty minutes, then five on foot; city bus 8 about an hour; from JR Hanazono it is ten minutes by taxi. On its own it does not justify an hour on the bus: it is on the same road as Kōzan-ji and Jingo-ji and is visited together with them.

🚉 Makinoo · 3 min walk

Sources: saimyoji.or.jp

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