Chogaku-ji

Most people reach Chogaku-ji on foot, about halfway along the Yamanobe-no-michi between Isonokami Shrine and Omiwa Shrine, and many walk straight past it. Stop. The gravel approach runs between hedges of Hirado azaleas to the bell-tower gate, a two-storey gate with a bell chamber on top that the temple calls the oldest of its kind in Japan and the only building left from its founding. The temple says Kukai founded it in 824 on imperial order as the shrine temple of nearby Oyamato Shrine, and at its height it had 48 sub-temples. One survives: the Kyu-Jizoin of 1630, where you take your shoes off and sit with its small garden and an old pine.

The main hall holds the Amida triad, carved in 1151 according to an ink inscription inside the statue. The temple says it is the oldest Buddhist sculpture in Japan with crystal inlaid eyes, and once you know, the eyes catch the light differently from the rest of the face. The attendants sit with one leg down, which is unusual.

Then there is the hell painting. Nine hanging scrolls make one picture about 3.5 metres tall and 11 metres wide, attributed by the temple to Kano Sanraku and dated to the early Edo period. The ten kings of the underworld judge the dead along the top; below come the river crossing, the tree of blades with a woman at the top luring sinners up, and the fires. The ninth scroll is Amida arriving to take someone to paradise. The original hangs only from 23 October to 30 November, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 13:00 the abbot gives his etoki talk on it, in Japanese, with jokes that land even if you follow half. A replica stays up the rest of the year.

The temple used to serve somen noodles in the kitchen building, and guidebooks still say so. It has stopped. Eat at the Tenri City Trail Center next door instead. Entry is 400 yen and the halls take 20 minutes, though you will stay longer in November.