Enryaku Temple

Japan's Buddhist cradle: the mountain monastery Enryaku-ji was founded in 788 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Mount Hiei above Kyōto.

Enryaku-ji is one of the most spiritually significant monasteries in Japan. The monk Saichō founded it in 788 on Mount Hiei, the natural guardian mountain of the then-capital Heiankyō to the northeast — the direction from which, in Japanese folk belief, evil approaches. Here Saichō established Tendai Buddhism in Japan, a tradition that later served as the starting point for almost every other Japanese school — Zen, Jōdo, Nichiren. The monastery complex spreads across three zones on the forested ridge and encompasses dozens of buildings, shrines and cemeteries. The monastery is also famed for its warrior monks (sōhei), who were powerful political forces in Kyōto during the medieval period. Today Enryaku-ji is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a living monastery where ceremonies take place daily.