My favorite shrine in Japan across two trips. We got there early so it was very peaceful and that may make a difference. Such a worthwhile drive from central Kyoto. It’s a really special place with lots to see. You can enjoy and hour or relax for half a day. This was also a favorite stop for our 4 and 6 year olds. The statues each have their own personality popping through and there are many places to discover within the area.

While others are crowding in the area where the monkeys are, if you continue driving along in the mountains you come to this temple. There are more than a thousand sculptures in the rakan style, mostly made by amateurs under the guidance of a master sculptor. This is a small temple which doesn't take much time to walk through, but you can spend a good couple of hours looking at each individual statue, as no two are alike. The variety of expressions and styles makes this a great place to appreciate the care and creativity that went into each statue. And because there weren't many people visiting at the time, it was a nice, quiet place to stroll through. There were also many surprising statues. We discovered statues with baseball bats and tennis rackets, one with what looked like an old Walkman, and many with just highly comical expressions. All in all, well worth the visit.

This unique Temple was in the Western part of Kyoto - a bit out of the way but worth a trip. The hundreds of stone figures of various Gods are beautifully carved. Many of them are now covered in moss, which adds to its beauty. Entrance fee is 300 Yen. We stopped by there on an afternoon and it wasn’t packed with tourists since it’s not as well-known. My suggestion is stopping by here while visiting Arasiyama (5 min car drive away).

This temple is off the beaten track but there are a few ways to get to it. Whilst you could walk to it we do not recommend this as it is uphill and a fairly narrow road. We found the best way was a taxi from JR Saga-Arashiyama Station for around 1,000 yen. There are also buses but we were there too early for them. The temple complex was beautifully set on the side of a hill. It was fairly peaceful here but even at this early hour there was a light crowd. The temple was built over a millennia ago and had 1,200 sculpted statues representing the followers of Buddha and they were all striking different poses. Some had their expressions worn away by the weather, others were covered in moss. Many others were in good condition. It was both amusing and poignant. Alas there were a lot of steps here meaning we had to climb about for each perspective. The higher we got the better the perspective over the temple and it was nice having a small waterfall trickling through here with traditional balancing counterweights of bamboo. Many of the statues offered unique and amusing faces and expressions. A couple were laughing or looked surprised. Compared to the rest of Kyoto it was a calm and uplifting site.

The temple is one of a kind, it was very quiet when we were there early afternoon late August, There are some larger statues, the numerous raken (~1200) make this place special, none is the same and they are spread over the hills of the temple. Not explained: visitor’s leave money with some of the raken, one even wore jewelry. It is a very special place to visit, keep it that way.