Sawayaka Walking in Mori-machi (3) - Gokurakuji Temple with variety of hydrangea

Gokurakuji Temple (Hydrangea Temple) is about 1.5 km from the station. During the season of hydrangea (from the beginning of June to the beginning of July), you have to pay an admission fee of 500 yen (100 yen for children), but there was a discount for participants of the walking event. I showed the course map at the entrance, paid 400 yen, and got a little wooden votive tablet called ema with a picture of a wild boar, the Chinese zodiac sign of this year, and hydrangea. A nice present, I thought.

The premises were full of hydrangea with various color tones. Before I walked around, I heard one of the monks announcing about a short lecture of the history of the temple. I entered the main building, took off my shoes, and went inside where chairs were prepared in front of the alter.

The lecture was very interesting. Gokurakuji, which literally means a paradise temple, was founded some 1300 years ago. They have kept an image of Amitabha Tathagata (Amida Nyorai,  阿弥陀如来) all the time as the principle image of the temple. As the image is very old, it had numerous worm holes and got extremely fragile before. They asked a craftsman in Kyoto to repair it before it was too late. He managed to repair it, though it took a year.

The monk also told us about hydrangea. Originally, they grew only on the hill behind the temple. They started to plant new hydrangea in front of the temple fifty years ago. They have now fifty kinds of hydrangea that are more colorful than those on the hill. In recent years, while hydrangea has become popular, and they have two kinds immediately in front of the building. One of them is called Annabelle, which I had heard somewhere before.

Finally, he introduced a teacup sold in the temple. It has Heart Sutra (Hannya Shingyo, 般若心経) written on the outer surface. When tea or something hot is poured into it, Heart Sutra disappears and a picture of Amitabha Tathagata appears. By drinking tea from this cup in the morning, you can have good luck all day long. This idea was funny, but I liked it. (The monk said that it might sound as a sales talk but they had to earn some money to maintain the temple)

After seeing 400-year old ceiling paintings and some other historical objects in the building, I went out and climbed the hill behind the temple.

The view from the hillside was wonderful. But it was difficult to take pictures as the path was not even, and I had to be careful.

There was a place to offer ema. It literally means a picture horse. In former days people donated a real horse to shrines as it was regarded as a holy animal. Later, a real horse was replaced by a wooden tablet with a picture of a horse as it was more convenient to donate. In shrines and temples, you write your wishes on the backside of it, hoping that they will come true. So, I wrote my wishes on my ema given at the entrance and hung it there. In fact, I had thought it was a little souvenir for visitors as it had a date stamp on the backside. Maybe I could take it home if I liked to do so.

On the hillside, there was also a mysterious pocket. At first, I thought it was a bomb shelter. But it was a pocket for Zen sitting medication.

Pale violet may be a typical color of hydrangea.

In front of the temple, paths were neatly prepared.

I had never seen so many hydrangea flowers at a time. The gradation of colors was beautiful.

There were also some lilies.

Gokurakuji Temple was impressive both inside and outside. Though it may be a small temple, it has a long history, and I highly recommend you visiting there especially during this season. If you search for detailed information about it on the Internet, don't forget to add "Mori-machi" after "Gokurakuji Temple" because there are many other Gokurakuji Temples in Japan.