Shoryaku-ji

Shoryaku-ji is at the end of a narrow valley road about 4 km into the hills from Route 169, southeast of central Nara, and that distance is most of its appeal. The approach follows a stream past mossy stone walls that once held up the sub-temples, and on a weekday outside November you may hear nothing but water. The temple was founded in 992 at the order of Emperor Ichijo and started with 86 sub-temples along the valley. The 1180 burning of Nara by Taira no Shigehira took the whole mountain with it, and after the Edo period most of what had been rebuilt fell away. What survives is the Fukujuin guest hall of 1681, an Important Cultural Property, a main hall rebuilt in 1916 and a bell tower.

Sake is why brewers know the name. Monks here brewed in three additions, used polished rice for both the koji and the main mash (the morohaku method), heated the finished sake to stop it spoiling, and made an early type of yeast starter called bodaimoto. These methods appear in a Muromachi-period text, and on that basis the temple calls itself the birthplace of Japanese refined sake. Every January the starter is still made at the temple and carried off by seven Nara breweries, and their bodaimoto sake is sold at Fukujuin. The next Bodaimoto sake festival is on 9 January 2027.

In November more than 3,000 maples turn, and the Fukujuin garden borrows the hillside behind it. That is when the crowds and a seasonal bus arrive. From 3 November to the first Sunday of December the hidden main image, a gilt bronze Yakushi Nyorai seated on a pedestal, is shown, and entry goes up from 500 to 800 yen. In 2026 it is in Fukujuin until 12 November, then in the main hall from 13 November to 6 December, and the main hall grounds stay closed until 13 November. The main hall sits at the top of 81 stone steps and outside the leaf season it is often shut. No photography inside the buildings, and no tripods outside.