Sennyū-ji Temple
Imperial Buddhist temple guarding the tombs of generations of emperors, with a rarely shown statue honoring a legendary Chinese beauty.
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About this audio guide
This guide to Sennyu-ji Temple, Kyoto's Imperial Temple since 1242, tells the story of Yang Guifei, the eighth-century Chinese consort blamed for an emperor's downfall and killed at a roadside shrine, and a cypress statue in her likeness said to have reached this temple in 1255. For centuries a small hall kept her face hidden from view. The guide traces how a legendary beauty came to be honored on grounds built to hold the tombs of Japan's own emperors.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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