Jingo-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple that worships Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha. Because of the temple's location in the rural mountainside, the scenery is quite lovely, and the temple is famous for its autumn colors. Within the Kondō hall is an impressive show of Buddhist statuary, and the atmosphere is heavy with reverence. The grounds themselves are spacious and offer various sights and halls to investigate, and paths lead through the woods off to sub-shrines and a clifftop viewing point.
The history of Jingo-ji begins with Wake no Kiyomaro, a famous Buddhist statesman from the Nara Period famous for preserving the imperial line and purportedly responsible for the choice of Kyoto as the country's capital. Wake no Kiyomaro originally constructed this temple in 781 to pray for the peace and prosperity of the nation, giving it the name Takaosan-ji. The famous monk Saichō, founder of the popular Tendai sect of Buddhism, was invited to Takaosan-ji in 802 and began lecturing to the priests of the country, tapped by Wake no Kiyomaro’s son and the emperor as a promising young monk. Saichō was in correspondence with another up and coming monk who had gone to China for study at the same time, Kūkai, later founder of the Shingon sect, and arranged for him to be brought to Takaosan-ji in 809. The two influential monks worked well together for a time, Kūkai even initiating Saichō in important esoteric Buddhist teachings, but a disagreement in 813 over the nature of their relationship and the intersection of their sects led to a falling out between them.
Jingo-ji still possesses a wealth of artifacts and records from centuries previous, some over a thousand years old. In fact, Jingo-ji is the owner of 17 National Treasures and 2,833 Important Cultural Properties.
Entrance Fee is 600¥