The temple was founded by empress Shotoku (稱徳天皇) during her short reign (764-770). The original location of the temple was the Otagi district of Kyoto (nowadays in central Kyoto), hence its first name of "Otagi temple" (愛宕寺). Otagi-ji was washed away by a flood of the Kamo river, and rebuilt as a sub-temple of Enriyakuji temple. It was moved to its present location in the hills of Arashiyama much later, in 1922, likely to preserve it from the urban pressure of the city center.
Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, as it is now called, is famous for the numerous moss-covered statues that occupy its grounds. They were carved from 1981 to 1991 by people all over Japan. The number of statues is quite large (~1200) and corresponds to the age of the temple. The statues have weird designs, mostly humorous: one is holding a photo camera, another a penis, some are fat, some are crying, others are clearly desperate.
The temple is a nice stop at the end of the road that follows the foothills of Arashiyama. Numerous craft shops can be found up to the Adashino Nenbutsu-ji temple. From there the road gets a countryside character with thatched roof buildings and old traditional houses. Otagi Nenbutsu-ji is a hundred meters up from the big red torii. Recommended for: Access: 300 円 Nearby: Adashino Nenbutsu-ji 化野念仏寺 (610m), Giyō-ji 祇王寺 (1km), Takiguchi-dera 滝口寺 (1.1km) External links: ウィキペディア, Wikipedia, Wikipédia, Kyoto Navi, Trip Advisor, Kyoto Design, 京都風光, Marutake, そうだ京都, Satellite view, Map Keywords: Japan, 日本, Japon, Kyoto, 京都, arashiyama, 嵐山, 愛宕念仏寺, Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, temple, 寺院, 仏閣 Statistics: visited on 3 occasions, id 501, 10 photos (7 extra photos can be found in the archive). |
