Shitennoji Temple
From the Keitakuen Garden, we then moved on to the famous Shitennoji Temple via the small Isshinji Temple, only being around a 10-minute walk…where this particular day there seemed to be a lot going on and a lot of people about.
Shitennoji Temple is one of Japan’s oldest, and the first to be built by the state. It was founded by Prince Shotoku in 593, who supported the introduction of Buddhism into Japan. The temple buildings today are however not the original, after being damaged and burned down over the years, but are still to the original design. Countless treasures have also been preserved by the temple over the past 1400 years!
The Shitennoji Temple grounds and buildings are stunning, and we decided to pay 300 yen so we could enter the temples inner grounds where we walked through the impressive central Shitennoji Chumon gate into the rectangle inner precinct. Being surrounded by wooden walls with the Shitenno-ji Gojunoto Five story pagoda and Shitenno-ji Kondo Golden Hall in the centre, with paths leading to them down the middle and the remain area being covered in gravel…it was certainly impressive, we let the photos do the talking.
