Place of worship
Nishi Hongan-ji Temple
堀川通花屋町下る Honganji Monzencho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8501
Sprawling Jodo Shinshu head temple with Momoyama-era gates and a legendary water-spraying ginkgo tree.
This guide to Nishi Hongan-ji Temple in Kyoto opens with the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, who in 1602 looked at a congregation strong enough to have outlasted a decade-long siege by the warlord Oda Nobunaga and decided to split it in two, granting a rival heir land nearby to found Higashi Hongan-ji. You'll hear how the ornate Karamon gate in front of you started life guarding Toyotomi Hideyoshi's castle at Fushimi before being moved here, and about a fire in 1617 that gutted the compound around it. Look for the ginkgo tree beside the founder's hall, its branches twisting upward rather than drooping.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.