Shōrenin Temple

This guide to Shōrenin Temple in Kyoto opens on a nine-year-old boy begging to be ordained a monk in 1207, and the poem he wrote that convinced the priest Jien to shave his head that same night. It follows that boy's path to founding one of Japan's largest Buddhist schools, and the temple's earlier life as a monk's lodging built by Saicho on Mount Hiei before an imperial family took it over for generations. Listen near the Shinden hall, where tradition says the ordination happened.