70 Best Sights in Kyoto, Japan

The most unusual feature of this temple is its cemetery, where about 8,000 stone images stand, a solemn sea of silent mourners. The statues honor the many nameless dead who fell victim to the tumult of pre-Edo Japan and were abandoned in the outskirts of the city, burned here in mass pyres. On August 23 and 24, a ceremony called Sento-kuyo is held here, with more than 1,000 candles lighted for the peaceful repose of these spirits. Whatever time of year you visit, the quiet repose of the multitude of images will make a lasting impression. The temple's main hall, built in 1712, contains an arresting statue of Amida Buddha carved by the Kamakura-era sculptor Tankei.

In 1083 the Fujiwara no Yorimichi, a member of a very powerful clan, built this villa, a UNESCO World Heritage site whose image graces the face of ¥10 coins. The main building, the Amida-do, is known as the Phoenix Hall, owing to the sweep of its curved roofline. A large statue of Amida Buddha, compassionate and benevolent, sits in repose as he views those below him. Small mounted images of bosatsu (enlightened beings) drift through clouds, playing instruments and dancing, an 11th-century image of paradise. The landscaped garden and pond reflect Amida's paradise. A video in the museum takes viewers back a millennium to demonstrate what the original bright colors would have looked like. Other small images of the 52 small wooden kuyo or reverent bosatsu have been put on display here.

This temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is as majestic as the mountain where it is located. Mt. Hiei has a long and entangled history with the capital, an involved and intriguing involvement with the court and the stronghold of warrior monks it became. More than a millennium ago, the priest Dengyo-Daishi (767–822), also known as Saicho, was given imperial permission to build a temple to protect the city against misfortune it was believed would emanate from the northeast. The temple grew in wealth and power and became a training place for monks-turned-warriors to force the Imperial Court to accede to its leaders' demands. The power accrued over the centuries lasting until Nobunaga Oda, the general who helped unify Japan and ended more than a century of civil strife, destroyed the complex in 1571.

The current temple is divided into three complexes—Todo, Saito, and Yokawa—that date from the 17th century. The Kompon Chu-do hall in Todo has a massive copper roof in the irimoya-zukuri layered style. Its dark, cavernous interior conveys the mysticism for which the Tendai sect is known. Giant pillars and a coffered ceiling shelter the central altar, which is surrounded by religious images. You can kneel with worshippers on a dais above the shadowy recess containing the smaller altars, an arrangement that looks upon the enshrined deities. The interior, darkened by the smoke of centuries of lighted candles, conveys a sense of spirituality even among nonbelievers. Each of the ornate oil lanterns hanging before the altar represents a stage of enlightenment. Near the main hall, a mausoleum contains the remains of Saicho.

Saito is a 25-minute walk from Todo along a stairway lined with stone lanterns. The ancient wooden temple in the Yokawa complex has been replaced with a concrete structure, dimming some of its allure, though like Todo and Saito it remains remarkable for its longevity and active religious rites. The mountain-top temple complex can be accessed from either the west (Kyoto side) or the east (Shiga/Lake Biwa side).

This shrine's thousands of red gates may well be the quintessential image of Japan. The gates line the path up the mountainside, parted at irregular intervals by shrines, altars, mausoleums, and hundreds of foxes in stone and bronze. This is the central headquarters for 40,000 shrines nationally that pay tribute to Inari, the god of rice, sake, and prosperity. As Japan's economic focus shifted from agriculture to other businesses, Inari was adopted as the patron deity of any kind of entrepreneurial venture—the gates in the path are donated by businesses from around the country seeking a blessing. Walking the whole circuit takes about two hours, a bit longer if you stop at the shops selling snacks along the way. Hikers can continue up the path and follow it along the Higashiyama Range and into central Kyoto.

A UNESCO World Heritage site, Ginkaku-ji (the Temple of the Silver Pavilion) was intended to impress the courtly world with its opulence, but the current structure is actually an exercise in elegance and restraint. Yoshimasa Ashikaga spent years constructing his retirement villa in a conspicuous homage to his grandfather's Golden Pavilion on the west side of town. The shogun wanted the large hall here to be wrapped in silver leaf, but during construction in the 1470s a tumultuous war and government unrest left the clan bereft of funds. Today an elaborate entryway of stone, bamboo, and hedge lead into a modest compound of buildings giving way to extensive gardens. The Silver Pavilion, which stares down at its reflection in the water, sits among the rolling moss-covered hillsides, dark pools, and an enormous dry garden, called the Sea of Sand.

Considered the epitome of beauty, culture, landscape, and architecture, the Imperial Villa is highly regarded here and abroad. The landscape architect Enshu Kobori (1579–1647) employed aesthetic gardening concepts founded on shin-gyo-so (formal, semiformal, informal) principles that imbue every pathway with a special beauty. Kobori incorporated horticultural references to famous Japanese literature, including The Tale of Genji, and natural sites.

Built in the 17th century for Prince Toshihito, brother of Emperor Go-yozei, Katsura is in southwestern Kyoto near the western bank of the Katsura River. Bridges constructed from earth, stone, and wood connect five islets in the pond, some moss-covered, softened by the ages yet as fresh as rain.

The villa is fairly remote from other historical sites. Allow several hours for a visit, for which you must secure permission from the Imperial Household Agency in Kyoto, by filling out and submitting a form on the agency's website, or by assembling at 11 am at the site to gain admission if space allows.

Possibly the world's most ostentatious retirement cottage, the magnificent gold-sheathed Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) was commissioned by Shogun Yoshimitsu Ashikaga (1358–1409). He erected the villa in 1393 in anticipation of the time when he would retire from active politics to manage the affairs of state through the new shogun, his 10-year-old son. On Yoshimitsu's death his son followed his father's wishes and converted the villa into a temple. The grounds were designed in a stroll-garden style favored by 11th-century aristocrats.

The current temple was reconstructed in the 1950s after a monk set fire to the standing structure. The monk's internal conflict is the focus of Yukio Mishima's 1956 famous novel Temple of the Golden Pavilion, published the year after construction had finished. Corresponding to Yoshimitsu's original vision, the top two stories are coated with gold leaf, a spectacular sight when reflected in the pond's still waters. Kinkaku-ji is one of 17 Kyoto-area locations collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Pilgrims have climbed Higashiyama's stone-inlaid streets to this historic mountainside temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, for centuries. Kiyomizu-dera's tremendous gates and pagodas are marvels to behold. The main hall's huge veranda, jutting out over the forested valley, is one of the city's quintessential images. Immense timbers support the large deck and gracefully angular cypress-shingle roof. Finding the courage to set out on a daring new adventure is often likened to "taking a leap from the veranda of Kiyomizu."

The temple was founded in AD 780, but the buildings you see today date from 1633. Two huge temple guardians man the gateway, and the first sight is of people trying to lift the heavy iron staves and geta clogs, supposedly used by the warrior Benkei. The interior of the temple has been darkened by the ages. Visitors may pass along the area behind the main altar, a metaphoric journey into the soul; in the dark passageway below the temple, quietly follow a chain of thick wooden beads to an ancient tablet carved with the Sanskrit rune for heart. Away from the main hall, the quirky Jishu Shrine is dedicated to Okuni Nushi-no-mikoto, a deity considered to be a powerful matchmaker. Many young people visit the shrine to seek help in finding their life partners. They try to walk between two stones placed 59 feet apart, with their eyes closed. It's said that love will materialize for anyone who can walk in a straight line between the two.

Farther down the path, the Sound of Feathers waterfall funnels down in three perfect streams before a raised platform. You can catch some of its water by using one of the long-handled silver cups; drinking from the falls supposedly helps with health, longevity, and academic success. If you need more to fortify you, enjoy some noodles, shaved iced, hot tea, or cold beer (depending on the season) from one of the old stalls below the trellised balcony.

One of Kyoto's oldest temples, Koryu-ji was founded in AD 622 by Kawakatsu Hata in memory of Prince Shotoku (AD 572–621). Shotoku ruled during an era before the founding of Kyoto. When the capital was to be moved from Nara, the Hata clan was living in this area and invited the present emperor to build a new capital on their lands. Prince Shotoku was the first powerful advocate of Buddhism after it was introduced to Japan in AD 552 and based his government on its dictates.

In the Hatto (Lecture Hall) of the main temple stand three statues, each a National Treasure. The central statue, a seated Buddha, is flanked by the figures of the Thousand-armed Kannon and Fukukenjaku-Kannon. In the Taishi-do (Prince Hall) is a wooden statue of Prince Shotoku, thought to have been carved by him personally. Another statue of Shotoku here is believed to depict him at age 16, when it was carved.

The most famous of the Buddhist images in the Reiho-den (Treasure House) is the statue of Miroku Bosatsu, who, according to Buddhist belief, is destined to appear on Earth in the far-off future to save those unable to achieve enlightenment. Japan's first registered National Treasure, this exquisite wooden statue is thought to date from the 6th or 7th century. This may be the most captivating, ethereal Buddhist image in Kyoto. The epitome of serenity, the image's gentle face is one of the finest examples of 6th-century wooden carving in the world. Other images represent a progression of the carving techniques for which Japan is renowned.

Another of Kyoto's World Heritage sites, this castle whose construction began in 1603 is a grandiose and unequivocal statement of power by Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun. In the early Edo period, the shogun stripped all power from Kyoto's Imperial Court by consolidating a new military and political center at his far-off fortress in Tokyo. Nijo-jo's moat and towering walls are intimidating enough, but once inside, a second moat and defensive wall assert the power of the warlord. What seems a second line of defense has less to do with defending the castle than reinforcing the structure's social statement: access to the inner sanctum depended on a visitor's status within the shogunate's hierarchy. Once inside, a guest was as much a hostage as a guest, a point surely driven home by the castle's ingenious nightingale floors, which "chirp" as people walk across them, revealing their movements. If you look under the balcony while strolling the garden, you can observe how the mechanism behind this architectural feature works.

The Tokugawa shoguns were rarely in Kyoto. Ieyasu stayed in the castle three times, and the second shogun stayed twice, including the time in 1626 when Emperor Gomizuno-o was granted an audience. After that, for the next 224 years, no Tokugawa shogun visited Kyoto, and the castle fell into disrepair. Only when the Tokugawa shogunate was under pressure from a failing economy did the 14th shogun, Tokugawa Iemochi (1846–66), come to Kyoto to confer with the emperor. The 15th and last Tokugawa shogun, Yoshinobu, famously returned power to the emperor in 1867, the central event of the Meiji Restoration. Since 1939, the castle has belonged to the city of Kyoto, and considerable restoration has taken place.

You can explore Nijo-jo at your own pace, and handy audio guides provide explanations of what you are seeing. Entry is through the impressive Kara-mon gate, whose sharp angles were intended to slow an attack. The path from the Kara-mon leads to the Ni-no-maru Palace, whose five buildings are divided into various smaller chambers. The costumed mannequins inside the central hall are displayed as their real-life counterparts might have reacted at the moment of the Tokugawa shogunate's demise. Following this, governmental power returned to the reigning emperor. The impressive garden was created by landscape designer Enshu Kobori shortly before Emperor Gomizuno-o's visit in 1626. Crane- and tortoise-shape islands symbolize strength and longevity.

The arrangement of stones amid the raked sand of this temple's rock garden is appropriately solemn for a National Treasure and UNESCO World Heritage site. The simple composition, a photograph in many schoolchildren's textbooks, can be viewed as a contemplative oasis or a riddle to challenge the mind. From any single vantage point, only 14 of the 15 stones can be seen. In the Buddhist tradition the number 15 signifies completion, and the garden's message is interpreted by many to be that completion is not possible in this world. As mystical as the experience is for some visitors, first-timers may find themselves mystified at the garden's fame. This is a setting that changes with every viewing, reflecting the maturity of the onlooker as years pass. The stroll garden beyond the temple building remains much as it was originally designed in the 11th century.

Also known as Kokedera or the "Moss Temple," the monks who run this temple and garden complex require visitors to perform a task upon arrival to prepare them to appreciate fully the alternative realm they are entering. After sitting quietly, you're given an inkstone, a brush, and a sheet of tracing paper covering a shakyo, or sutra, you are encouraged to trace. The exercise complete, you may enter the grounds, with a calm and perhaps awakened spirit, and stroll at your leisure.

The inspiration for the temple's name becomes apparent as you observe the gently swirling greens and blues the 120 varieties of moss create throughout the garden. Designed by the monk Suso Soseki (1275–1351), the garden was a forerunner of later contemplative Zen gardens. This garden, designed on two levels surrounding a pond shaped like the Chinese character for heart, represents Jodo, the western paradise of Buddhism. Permission is required to visit Koinzan Saiho-ji. The simplest ways to arrange a visit are to ask your hotel's concierge, contact the Kyoto Tourist Information Center, or apply directly by mail. It's best to apply at least a month ahead, however, as the limited spaces fill up quickly.

This 400-foot-long hall preserves 1,001 golden, graceful Buddhist images, one of the world's most magnificent collections of wooden statuary. Enthroned in the hall's center is a seated thousand-armed Kannon (enlightened being) crowned with 10 tiny heads. Tankei, a noted sculptor of the Kamakura period (1192–1333), carved the statue. In the corridor behind it are 30 other images, carved by the members of the same school of sculptors, that include the mythological birdlike beings called Garuda, the holy man Basusenin, and the gods of wind and thunder. The name of the hall refers to the 33 spaces between the 34 pillars that make up its length.

Meaning "Temple of the Heavenly Dragon," this sacred spot is well named. In the 14th century, Emperor Go-Daigo, who had brought an end to the Kamakura shogunate, was forced from his throne by Takauji Ashikaga. After Go-Daigo died, Takauji had twinges of conscience. That's when Priest Muso Soseki had a dream in which a golden dragon rose from the nearby Oi-gawa. He told the shogun about his dream and interpreted it to mean the spirit of Go-Daigo was not at peace. Worried about this ill omen, Takauji completed Tenryu-ji in 1339 on the same spot where Go-Daigo had his favorite villa. Apparently the late emperor's spirit was appeased. Construction took several years and was partly financed by a trading mission to China, which brought back treasures of the Ming dynasty.

In the Hatto (Lecture Hall), where today's monks meditate, a huge "cloud dragon" is painted on the ceiling. The temple was often ravaged by fire, and the current buildings are as recent as 1900; the painting of the dragon was rendered by Shonen Suzuki, a 20th-century artist.

The Sogenchi garden, which dates from the 14th century, is one of Kyoto's most noteworthy gardens. Muso Soseki, an influential Zen monk and garden designer, created the garden to resemble Mt. Horai in China, the mythological home of the Immortals. It is famed for its arrangement of vertical stones embanking the large pond and as one of the first gardens to use "borrowed scenery," incorporating the mountains in the distance into the design of the garden. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, the temple and its grounds are well attended by many admirers. There is also an excellent vegetarian Zen cuisine restaurant, Shigetsu, at the southern end of the temple grounds.

This small temple in the foothills of Higashiyama dates back to the 12th century, when the priest Honen began to preach a novel means of salvation accessible to anyone, the recitation of the name of Amida Buddha (nenbutsu). Two of Honen's disciples, Anraku and Juren, preached this new, at the time heretical, faith in the countryside outside the usual surveillance. Two ladies in the Imperial Court, Matsumushi and Suzumushi, who were also said to be concubines of Emperor Go-Toba (1180–1239), inspired by the teachings, became nuns. Convinced that the monks had seduced the two ladies, the emperor had the monks seized and beheaded. The court ladies then took their own lives in response, and Honen was exiled as a heretic. When he was finally permitted to return to Kyoto in 1212, the now elderly priest had Anraku-ji built to honor his faithful disciples and their two converts. The tombs of all four are on the temple grounds. The shrine is open in spring to showcase its gorgeous azaleas and in autumn for its vivid maples.

The tables are turned at this primate reserve where humans enter a cage-like hut while the resident monkeys roam free—except when clinging to the cage's fencing to grab peanuts offered by visitors. Outside the hut humans and monkeys are free to mingle, and there great views out over the city. Scientists at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute track the movement of these macaques, the most northern monkeys in the world. The hike to the hill-top hut takes 20 minutes up a steep paved path. Look for entrance at the southern end of the Togetsukyo Bridge.

A narrow path through dense patches of bamboo—thick, with straight, smooth green stems—gives most who pass through it a feeling of composure and tranquillity. The wind, clacking the stems and rustling the leaves, provides the sound track. Though bamboo has treelike qualities, it is actually a grass that grows throughout the country. Its springtime shoots are a culinary treat.

The headquarters of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, Chion-in is impressive enough to have been cast in the film The Last Samurai as a stand-in for Edo Castle. Everything here is on a massive scale. The imposing tiered gateway is the largest in the country, and the bell inside the temple grounds, cast in 1633, is the heaviest in Japan, requiring 17 monks to ring it. If you're in Kyoto over New Year's, you can hear it being struck 108 times to release believers from the 108 worldly desires of the old year. The bell may not be struck again until the previous sound has ceased, so it takes more than an hour to ring in the new year. The event is nationally televised.

The extensive temple buildings contain many artworks, along with simpler pleasures such as the exposed uguisu-bari (nightingale floor)—floor planks that "chirp" when trod upon, alerting residents of potential intruders. There are two halls, the greater and lesser, connected via corridors with gardens between.

The temple is adjacent to Maruyama Park. As with most Kyoto temples, Chion-in's history includes a litany of fires and earthquakes. Most of the buildings you see date from the early 1600s.

A procession of stone lanterns lines the steep stairway to this tiny temple founded in the early 9th century by Emperor Kammu with the priest Saicho. In 1185, after the Minamoto clan's defeat of the Taira clan in the Genpei War, the last survivor found refuge here, a circumstance depicted in the epic The Tale of the Heike. Within the temple, note the 11-headed statue of Kannon, evocative of the deity's Indian origins. Another structure houses precious items: ancient scrolls, remnants of a child emperor's clothing, and Buddhist images.

Goju-no-to, the five-story main pagoda of the Daigo-ji Temple complex, dates from AD 951 and is reputed to be the oldest existing structure in Kyoto. Daigo-ji, which includes many subtemples, was founded in AD 874 in the Eastern Mountains foothills in what is now the southeastern suburb of Yamashina Ward. Many of the smaller temples, along with the pagoda, can be found on the lower, entry level, with more up a long stone stairway that takes 45 minutes to ascend.

By the late 16th century the Daigo-ji enclave had begun to decline in importance, and its buildings showed signs of neglect. The warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi paid a visit when the cherry trees were in bloom, and their beauty so delighted him that he ordered the complex restored. Among the notable subtemples is Sanbo-in, a 1598 reconstruction commissioned by Hideyoshi of a temple built here in 1115. The present structure has a Momoyama-period thatched roof; displayed inside are colorful, gold-leaf paintings of Chinese village scenes. The adjacent multistone garden combines elements of a chisen-kaiyu (stroll garden with a pond) and a karesansui (dry garden). Visitors cannot stroll the main garden, but a newer one to the left of the entrance can be entered.

Daigo-ji holds the Daigo-ichi, a monthly bazaar held on the 29th, with food and clothing stalls that line the temple walkways.

This major temple complex of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism dates from 1319, but fires during the Onin Civil War destroyed it in 1468. Most buildings now here were erected under the patronage of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the late 16th century. The four subtemples below are open to visitors much of the year, and several others are open during the spring and autumn.

Daisen-in is best known for its Muromachi-era garden, attributed to Soko Kogaku (1465–1548). The rock-and-gravel garden depicts the flow of life in the movement of a river, swirling around rocks, over a waterfall, and finally into an ocean of nothingness.

Ryogen-in has five small gardens of gravel, stone, and moss. The Ah-Un garden includes a stone with ripples emanating from it, symbolizing the cycle of life, from the "ah" sound said at birth to the "un" said at death, encompassing all in between.

Koto-in is famous for its long, maple tree–lined approach and the single stone lantern central to the main moss-carpeted garden.

Zuiho-in has Hidden Christian roots. Its rock garden suggests an abstract cross; a statue of Mary is supposedly buried under the stone lantern in an adjacent garden.

The high walls, immense wooden gates, and enormous roof of the Otani headquarters of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism are sufficiently impressive to convince some newcomers they're looking at the Imperial Palace. In the current complex, largely an 1895 reconstruction, the cavernous Hondo (Main Hall), also called the Amida-do, the second-largest wooden structure in Japan, dwarfs everything else. During the temple's construction, female devotees offered their hair, which was woven into strong, thick ropes used to set heavy timbers into place. A coiled length of one of these kezuna is within a glass case in a passageway between the Amida-do and the Daishi-do, a double-roof structure notable for its graceful curving lines.

Next to the Nanzen-ji temple complex, Eikan-do (also known as Zenrin-ji) was built after the original temple, dating from 855, was destroyed in the 15th century. Visitors come throughout the year to see the image of Amida Buddha statue, which represents the time when Eikan paused in his prayers and the Buddha turned his head to encourage him to continue. The temple draws the most visitors in autumn, when people come to see the colorful foliage, and in November, when there's an excellent display of painted doors.

Not far from the Fushimi-Inari Shrine lies a district of high-walled sake breweries and warehouses, some dating to the early Edo period—Gekkeikan, founded in 1637, is one of the oldest and best known. Its museum displays many artifacts connected to the brewing process. The admission fee includes a tasting and small bottle of sake or plum wine. Fushimi is noted for its pure springs. If your water bottle is empty, fill it up at the on-site well.

A century-old villa (the name means "inn of white sand") with a large stroll garden, this was once the home of the painter Kansetsu Hashimoto (1883–1945). Combining influences from various Japanese periods and drawing inspiration from Chinese imagery, Hashimoto created a unique style of painting. A new museum contains many of Hashimoto's sketches and paintings, as well as works by his Chinese and Japanese contemporaries and an enthralling collection of Greek and Persian pottery. An exquisite stone garden and a teahouse are also open to the public. If you book at least two days in advance, it's possible to experience a complete tea ceremony. Adjacent to the estate is the Noa Noa café, which serves light casual fare from ¥1,500.

The massive vermilion torii gate of Heian Jingu is one of Kyoto's best-known symbols. Built in the 1890s to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of Kyoto's founding, Heian Jingu pays homage to the two emperors who bookend the city's era of national prominence: Kammu, who brought the imperial throne here in 794, and Komei, whose reign ending in 1866 saw the sun set on Kyoto's days as the capital. An assertion of Kyoto's unfaded splendor, Heian Jingu was built as a slightly smaller replica of the Imperial Palace, destroyed in 1227. The architecture reveals China's strong influence on the early Japanese court. The gate, the biggest in Japan, is particularly impressive, as are the three elaborate gardens behind the main shrine, conceived by the master designer Ogawa Jihei, which draw on Kyoto's landscaping origins. The complex makes a wonderful backdrop for several annual events, most famously the brazier-lighted plays of Takigi Noh Drama every June 1 and 2, and the Jidai Costume Festival on October 22.

The gorgeous cherry blossoms at this modest shrine near Kinkaku-ji have been the focus of an annual spring festival since AD 985. The pale-pink petals contrast with vermilion lanterns lining the lanes of the Heian-style complex. The shrine was brought here from Nagaoka, the country's capital after Nara and before Kyoto. The four buildings open for touring date from the 17th century. Installed next to a 400-year-old camphor tree is a huge magnetic boulder from Iwate Prefecture, chosen for the power it is said to contain.

South of Ginkaku Temple on the Philosopher's Path lie the serene grounds of a once rural temple. Tall spindly bush camellia and slender maple trees form a canopy over the long entry path. Inside the temple's thatched gateway, two long regular mounds of sand are formed into shapes symbolizing the changing seasons. While strolling through the verdant garden, you may notice the tombs of several notables, including novelist Junichiro Tanizaki (1886–1965), economist Hajime Kawakami (1879–1946), and artist Heihachiro Fukuda (1892–1974).

The temple, built in 1680, is on a site chosen in the 13th century by Honen, founder of the populist Jodo sect of Buddhism. This is a training temple. Year-round, monks place 25 flowers before the Amida Buddha statue in the main hall, representing the 25 bodhisattvas who accompany the Buddha to receive the souls of the newly deceased.

The small and beloved nunnery was completely rebuilt in 2005 after a devastating fire, but its history is almost as old as the city. Rival clans had their final battle in 1185, taking the lives of all except Kenreimon-in, the 29-year-old mother of eight-year-old Emperor Antoku. Kenreimon-in returned to the capital and eventually this remote place to spend her days in prayer. Years passed until a visit by a retired emperor who was moved to write a poem about her harsh existence as embodied by the gnarled remains of a cherry tree on the ground. Jakko-in is on the west, or opposite side of the valley from Sanzen-in. The steep stairway approaching the nunnery evokes the solitude Kenreimon-in and the other nuns who lived here endured.