[Travel] Arashiyama, Kyoto – Enrian and Jojakkoji Temples


After passing through Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street, we turned into a very narrow pathway leading to Enrian Temple. If not for a small standee at the side of the road with a picture of Enrian’s ground, you would miss it. You could still miss though it if you are not traveling with a local as the writing is in Japanese 😆.

 My guide was actually surprised when I asked him to include Enrian in our itinerary. Apparently it’s not a very popular stop and not too many people know about it. Actually, I only came to know about it while browsing the web through google images looking for the best places to view Koyo in Japan. An image came up and the maple leaves were of such vivid red color that I thought I had to see it. The rest of the photos in that blog were very, very nice too. After researching about it some more, I also found out that the said temple is not open all year round. It’s only open during the Autumn season which only added more to its appeal. I really wanted to see it so much so that I didn’t bat an eyelash when I forked out 500 Yen for the admission fee. It was only later I realized my guide wasn’t too happy about it. And I found out why. I was only right about one thing, that it would be deserted. There were only like 2-3 other people there. The temple’s ground was sooooo small and there are no red maple leaves anywhere. I guess my visit was premature but really, there was nothing for me to see there. And I realized I paid far too much for it after we reach our next stop: Jojakkoji Temple. But I don’t wanna be too harsh, people who doesn’t like the crowd and would like to have some peaceful moment to reflect by themselves would surely like it there. I wish I’d seen it during the peak of autumn though then I might have expressed my gratitude to that blogger who led me there. 🙂

Some more photos taken inside Enrian Temple.




Next we went to Jojakkoji, a 16th century hillside temple. As we approached the gate, I was delighted since I can see  a lot of yellow and red maple leaves. I was even more pleased since the admission fee is only 400 Yen. I really loved the Nio-mon with the thatched roof covered in moss, the steps leading to the temple, the tomb with the prayer sticks, and the temple itself.


This is a tomb, those are prayers written on the sticks.


The steps leading to the temple.



The gate with the thatched roof.



More photos.









Next up, the famous Bamboo Grove.

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