Akishino-dera

Most visitors to Akishino-dera come for one statue, and it is worth the detour. The Gigeiten, a deva of the arts, stands just over two metres tall on the left side of the main hall. Her head was made in the Nara period in hollow dry lacquer, and the body was carved in wood in the Kamakura period, centuries later. You would not guess the join. The head tilts slightly to one side, and the face is softer than almost anything else from Nara. She is the only old statue of Gigeiten known in Japan, which is why artists and performers come here to pray to her.

The main hall is a National Treasure, a plain building of five bays by four with a tiled hip roof and an earthen floor. A fire in 1135 destroyed most of the temple, and the hall was rebuilt in the Kamakura period on the site of the old lecture hall. Inside, the Yakushi triad sits in the middle with the Twelve Heavenly Generals and several Important Cultural Properties along the sides. The room is dim, and photography is not allowed.

The other reason to come is outside. Between the old south gate and the hall, a patch of woodland has grown over the foundation stones of the Golden Hall and the east and west pagodas, and the ground under the trees is thick green moss. On a wet day in June, when there is nobody else around, it is the quietest corner of northwest Nara I know.

The founding is unclear. Temple tradition says the monk Zenju founded it in 776 at the wish of Emperor Konin, but the earliest record is from 780, when the emperor granted it the taxes of 100 households.

A second statue, the fierce Daigensui Myoo in its own hall west of the main hall, is shown to the public only on 6 June, when entry rises from 500 to 1,000 yen. The temple has no website of its own, and you will find almost no English on site.