Chogosonshi-ji

Chogosonshi-ji is not a quiet temple. Tiger figures turn up all over the mountainside, a 6-metre one near the entrance swings its head from side to side, and the main hall sells Hanshin Tigers good-luck charms. It all goes back to the founding story: in 582, the temple says, Prince Shotoku met Bishamonten on this mountain in the year, the day and the hour of the tiger, and in 587 he carved the god's image here after defeating Mononobe no Moriya. The 1st and 3rd of each month and every tiger day on the calendar are festival days, and February, the tiger month, is the busiest.

Under the kitsch is real history. The monk Myoren rebuilt the temple around 910, and after his prayers cured Emperor Daigo the court gave it the name Chogosonshi-ji. The Shigisan Engi Emaki, three 12th-century picture scrolls about Myoren, including the one where his alms bowl flies off with a rich man's storehouse, are among the best-known scrolls in Japan. The originals are on deposit at Nara National Museum. The Reihokan treasure hall (300 yen, 9:00 to 16:30) shows copies most of the year, and each autumn one original comes back for a short display. That is the time to go.

The main hall burned in 1951 and was rebuilt in 1958. Its wooden stage looks east over the Yamato plain, and underneath it the Kaidan-meguri (200 yen) is a pitch-black corridor where you feel your way to a lock said to grant wishes. If your legs are up to it, a steep path climbs to the Kuhachi Gohodo at the summit, past the site of Matsunaga Hisahide's Shigisan castle. Oda Nobunaga's army destroyed it in 1577, and every hall on the mountain burned with it.

The grounds are spread out and hilly, so give it half a day. If you want to stay the night, the sub-temples Gyokuzo-in, Senju-in and Jofuku-in take guests.