Abe Monju-in

There is a Japanese saying that three ordinary heads together match the wisdom of Monju, and this is where people come to ask Monju himself. The statue in the main hall is the reason to visit: Monju riding a lion, about 7 metres tall, carved by Kaikei, with an ink inscription inside the figure dating it to 1203. Four attendants go with him, a boy leading the way, a king holding the lion's reins, an old layman and a monk, so the group reads as a procession crossing a sea of clouds. All five became National Treasures in 2013. The 700-yen ticket takes you into the hall, close to the statues, and includes matcha and a sweet afterwards.

The temple dates itself to 645 and to Abe no Kurahashimaro, minister after the Taika reforms. By its own tradition the onmyoji Abe no Seimei was born here in 921 and learned to read the stars as a child, and a small hall marks his observation spot on the rise above the grounds. His statue, along with one of Abe no Nakamaro, the Nara-period official who served at the Tang court, is in the Kinkaku Ukimido, a gilded hall standing in the pond (another 700 yen, or 1,200 for both halls). Its walls carry Muromachi-period scrolls of the twelve guardian devas, normally hidden and shown three per season. From September to November it is Suiten, Rasetsuten and Futen, and all twelve come out from the last Saturday of April to the first Sunday of May.

Do not skip the free part. The Monjuin West Tumulus, a Special Historic Site, has a burial chamber of cut granite laid out symmetrically, its ceiling a single slab of about 15 square metres, and you can step inside. The flower plots change through the year: a cosmos maze in autumn, then from November to late April a 20 by 25 metre picture of the coming year's zodiac animal planted in about 8,000 pansies, best seen from Seimei's lookout.

The place is cheerful and quite commercial, with a prayer or charm for every worry. Getting in to the halls means climbing steps. It is about 20 minutes on foot south of Sakurai Station.