Futaiji Temple

Introduction

Futaiji is formally Kinryuzan Futa ten Horin-ji, but is better known as Narihira-dera after Ariwara no Narihira, the hero of the Tales of Ise: the temple tradition holds that he carved its principal image, a standing Shokannon, with his own hands. Tucked into a residential quarter north of Naramachi, it feels less like a monastery than a Heian noble's villa. The south gate is an Important Cultural Property, with frog-leg struts and the fine 'Narihira lattice' worth a close look; the main hall houses the Shokannon alongside a rare set of five Wisdom Kings in one group. In the garden, the tahoto pagoda has lost its upper storey, and that truncated silhouette is what most visitors photograph; in late November maples turn around it, making this a quiet autumn spot inside Nara city. It is the 18th stop on the Northern Yamato 88-temple pilgrimage, a fifteen-minute walk from Kintetsu Shin-Omiya and rarely crowded.

✨ Highlights

🛈 Practical Info