Enryakuji

Saicho founded Enryakuji on Mount Hiei in 788, and for centuries it was the intellectual centre of Japanese Buddhism - Honen, Shinran, Eisai, Dogen and Nichiren all trained here before founding the schools that carry their names. The complex is not one compound but three areas strung along the ridge, Todo, Saito and Yokawa, several kilometres apart and linked by forest paths and a shuttle bus. The Konpon Chudo, the central hall, holds a lamp said to have burned since Saicho lit it, in a sunken sanctuary below the level of the worshippers so the images are at eye height from the floor. The monastery's monks maintain the kaihogyo, a practice of walking the mountain daily over a thousand days across seven years, which very few complete. It is a UNESCO site within the Kyoto inscription.

What you actually see

• Three areas on a ridge - Todo, Saito and Yokawa, kilometres apart in forest.
• The Konpon Chudo - a sunken sanctuary with a lamp said to have burned since 788.
• A training school - where the founders of most later Japanese Buddhist schools studied.
• The kaihogyo - a thousand-day mountain walking practice still maintained.

When to go

April to November; late October for colour on the ridge. A day.

Honest expectations

The three areas are far apart and covering them takes a full day with shuttle buses. The Konpon Chudo has been under long-term restoration with scaffolding and covers. Winter closes roads and much of the site. Access by cable car or toll road is expensive.

Nearby

Lake Biwa is east below the ridge; Kyoto is west.