Hasedera

Hasedera is a temple in Nara Prefecture that I visited on a short trip to Kyoto with one of my friends, Eirik. It is easily accessible by train from Kyoto or Osaka, and is worth visiting most times of the year, but especially during the spring when all of the flowers at the temple are in bloom. We were lucky enough to see the Sakura (cherry trees) blooming. The weather was perfect when we went, which was really nice. Not too hot, and not too cold. If you want to go to Hasedera, head on over to the Japan Travel Resources page, and check out the train trip planner. The station you want to end up at is Hasedera.

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This is the train we took to Hasedera Station. Sort of old, but it was a fun train ride. The conductor at the end was super nice, and got out of the conductor cab to tell us which station to get off at. (I asked, and got a very detailed response on where to get off, and where to go after we exited the train station).

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A puppy that we saw on the way to the temple.

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I’m not sure where this Torii led to, but it looked interesting so I decided to take a picture.

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The signpost for Hasedera Temple. Not super interesting, but definitely picture-worthy.

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An interesting factoid about this temple. There are 399 stone steps that one has to walk up before one gets to the main temple building.

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Water runs down the sides of the stairs when it rains. It must rain a lot for the channels to be so deep.

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The main temple building. One can buy お守り(lucky charms) and incense here to burn at the temple.

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One of the other temples within the Hasedera complex.

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Sakura blossoms! There were tons of these when we went.

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This looks like it was relatively recently constructed. Most temples (with very few exceptions) are not the original structure. Can anyone guess why? (Hint: wood burns very easily.)

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A closer view of the secondary temple complex.

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Looking back up at the main temple, with cherry blossoms in front.

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There are many kinds of cherry trees in Japan, some having white flowers, others with pink blossoms. There were many varieties at this temple!

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Some of the less colorful variety.

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Lastly, some very pink cherry blossoms. (At least I think they are cherry blossoms.) Until next time!