# Adashino Nenbutsu-ji

> Around 8,000 stone buddhas and pagodas gathered from Adashino, a burial ground since the Heian period, standing in rows on the old road above Arashiyama.

- Prefecture: Kyoto
- Type: Temple
- Address: Kyoto, Japan
- Admission: 500 yen
- Official site: https://nenbutsuji.jp/

Adashino was where the people of Kyoto left their dead. From the Heian period this stretch of hillside above what is now Arashiyama served as a burial ground and, earlier, a place of open-air burial, where bodies of those without families were simply abandoned. In the Meiji era the scattered stone markers were gathered together, and today around 8,000 stone buddhas and small pagodas stand in tight rows in the temple's Sai-no-Kawara, all of them for the nameless dead. Founding is attributed by temple tradition to Kukai, though that is legend rather than record. The effect is unlike anywhere else in Kyoto: no single object is remarkable, and the mass of them is what stops you. On the evenings of the last Saturday and Sunday of August, 29 and 30 August in 2026, the Sento Kuyo is held, with candles lit among the stones from about 18:00 to 21:00. The temple sits at the top of the Toriimoto preserved street, a stretch of thatched machiya on the old road to Atago, and a bamboo path runs along the upper edge of the grounds with a fraction of the crowd of the famous grove downhill.

## FAQ

### What is the difference between Adashino Nenbutsu-ji and Otagi Nenbutsu-ji?

They sit on the same road about 10 minutes apart and their names look alike, but they are opposites in feel. Adashino holds around 8,000 weathered stones for the nameless dead, gathered from an old burial ground, and is sombre. Otagi, further up, has 1,200 rakan carved by amateurs in the 1980s and 1990s, many of them grinning or holding tennis rackets. Most people who go all the way out there see both.

### What is Sento Kuyo and when is it held?

On the evenings of the last Saturday and Sunday of August, which is 29 and 30 August in 2026, candles are lit among the stone figures from about 18:00 to 21:00 in memory of the nameless dead. A separate evening admission applies and it is the one time this quiet temple has a queue. Check the temple's site before planning around it, as the dates and the format have both changed over the years.

### How do I get there and what does it cost?

Adult admission is 500 yen. Open 9:00 to 16:30, closing 15:30 in January, February and December. Kyoto Bus 62 or 72 stops at Toriimoto five minutes below, and Saga-Arashiyama Station is about 25 minutes on foot downhill, which is also how you pass Gio-ji and Jojakko-ji.

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Source: Adashino Nenbutsu-ji — Japan Voyage