Hyakumanben Chionji

Introduction

Hyakumanben Chion-ji stands at the Hyakumanben crossing beside Kyoto University. Its formal name is Chion-ji and it is one of the seven head temples of the Jodo school; visitors often confuse it with Chion-in, the sect's head temple on the eastern hills, and with the Chion-ji at Amanohashidate, three separate places. It was founded by the monk Genchi with Honen as its spiritual founder. In 1331, during an epidemic, the abbot led a million recitations of the nembutsu to end it, and Emperor Go-Daigo granted the name Hyakumanben, which the temple and the crossroads still carry. The main hall holds a giant rosary more than 110 metres long, the most approachable object in the complex; the Daihojo 'Shichigosan garden' is an Edo-style dry landscape with a separate JPY 500 fee, and on ordinary days the grounds are quiet enough to hear students cycling past. What fills them is the monthly craft market on the 15th. Running since 1987, it brings some three hundred stalls that may sell only things their makers produced, pottery, cloth work, jewellery, bread and pickles among them, in rain or shine; come in the morning for the best choice, and note there is no August edition. Grounds and hall are free, 09:00-17:00, and on market days stalls open at eight. Kyoto University, Shimogamo Shrine and Tadasu no Mori fit naturally into an unhurried half day in Sakyo ward.

✨ Highlights

🛈 Practical Info