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The city of Kyoto is steeped in Japan’s ancient history and culture. Kyoto with its innumerable temple shrines gardens and museums, is a veritable storehouse of Japanese art and cultural wealth. 16 of the ancient temples in Kyoto have been designated World Heritage sites by UNESCO. No wonder, then that the city attracts more than forty million tourists every year. Amongst Kyoto’s 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto Shrines the Kaju-ji Temple is often ignored by tourists as just another temple in Kyoto. And those who do so do not realize what a treasure they are missing out on. The Kaju-ji Temple echoes of its Heian past and with its beautiful gardens and ponds replete with lilies, is a sight for sore eyes. The temple was built on the orders of Emperor Daigo within the years 890 and 930. The site was chosen because the Emperor’s wife had spent a substantial part of her life here. After the Emperor’s mother passed away he ordered that this temple be built so that prayers could be offered to her in her afterlife. The princes of the royal family used to stay here. Unfortunately very little of the original temple survives now. Like most of Kyoto’s temples it was destroyed by wars and fires and had been rebuilt time and again.
The temple was destroyed to huge extent in the Onin War in 1470. The temple was restored with the aid of the Tokugawa family and the Imperial Household subsequently. From then on most of the priests of this temple were drawn from the imperial family. This form of patronage revived the temple’s old glory, but unfortunately, not for too long. The Nara National Museum houses a tapestry image of Shaka-Nyorai preaching (Gautama - the founder of Buddhism) - a National Treasure that has been handed down within the temple for centuries. Inside the temple grounds, at the centre of a garden is a pond called the Himuronoike Pond, which, is designed for boating and strolling. It is said that Mito Mitsukuni also known as Mito Komon donated the stone lantern in front of the Shoin. The temple is famous for its garden famous for its garden, which is more than a thousand years old; echoes of the Heian period remain, as the temple was rebuilt keeping in mind its previous structure and care has been taken to keep its grounds (complete with ponds and lilies ) as identical as possible to what it was before. Open Hours: 9am-4pm daily. Though not as famous as the rest of the 16 World Heritage Sites of Kyoto the Kaju-ji Temple is definitely worth a visit.
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