Hase-dera

This guide to Hase-dera in the hills above Sakurai near Nara opens with a monk named Tokudo, who fell gravely ill in the early 700s, bargained with Enma, lord of the underworld, and vowed upon recovery to found a pilgrimage of thirty three temples to Kannon. Behind that vow stands a towering gilded Kannon statue said to be carved from a single camphor log split in two, one half enshrined here and the other set adrift toward Kamakura. You'll hear how fire has taken this hall down again and again over the centuries. Climb the roofed, lantern-lined stairway to reach it, and look for the flowers lining your way in late spring.