Open Buddha

R and I took the train out to Mt. Hiei (Hieisan) today. This is the home of Tendai Buddhism, from whom the temple I am associated with in Ohio derives its lineage. The temple complex is about an hour outside of Kyoto on top of a mountain.

We took a JR line train out there and then took the cablecar up the mountain.

From there, we explored the East and West complexes. The east complex, Todo, contains Enryaku-ji, which has a number of famous buildings in it, such as Konpon-Chudo:

We spent a couple of hours wandering around there.

The west complex is Saito and is connected to Todo by a 1.2 kilometer trail connecting them. When they say “1.2 kilometers” to you, they don’t mean a nice easy grade with a paved way and handrails. This trail goes up and down and around. It includes what I can only call the “Stairs of Doom”, which look quite nice, until you are seeing them from the bottom on your way back after hiking on a mountain for five hours.

I have a photoset with, oh, 145 photos in it up on Flickr now for you to see if you are so inclined. These are being added to the overall Japan collection, which will include all of the smaller sets that I do.

Tomorrow, we plan on seeing the Kyoto Imperial Palace and maybe some of the larger temples and shrines in town.