Mount Hiei
Mount Hiei (比叡山 Hiei-zan), [1] to the northeast of Kyoto, Japan, is an extensive temple complex. The town of Sakamoto (坂本) lies at the base of the mountain.
Understand
The temple of Enryakuji, the first Japanese outpost of the esoteric Tendai sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mt. Hiei by Saicho in 788. The temple complex was razed by Oda Nobunaga in 1571 to quell the rising power of the Tendai's warrior monks, but it was rebuilt and remains the Tendai headquarters to this day.
Get in
There are several ways to reach Sakamoto and Mount Hiei.
By train
From Kyoto, take the Keihan Main Line to Demachiyanagi and transfer to an Eizan train to Yase-Hieizan-guchi (八瀬比叡山口). From here the Eizan Cable Car makes the trip to the top of Mount Hiei for ¥530/1040 one-way/return, every 30 minutes daily from 8:30 to 17:30 (or longer, schedules vary a bit depending on the season).
From the Lake Biwa side, you can take the JR Kosei line or Keihan Ishiyama-Sakamoto line to Sakamoto, although the Keihan station (the last station on the line) is more centrally located. The Hiyoshi Taisha shrine and the cable car to Mt. Hiei are about 15 min away on foot, both fairly well signposted.
By bus
There are occasional direct buses from Kyoto station directly to the top, taking about 1.5 hours and all departing in the morning. Schedules are severely curtailed in the winter.
Get around
Both Sakamoto and Mt. Hiei are best covered on foot. For going between the two, you can use the Sakamoto Cable Car, which costs ¥840/1570 one-way/round-trip and runs daily from 8 AM to 5 PM once every 30 minutes. At over 2 km, this is the longest cable car in Japan and takes about 11 minutes for the journey. This cable car line was built in 1927 and refurbished in 1993. The European style cars have large windows with wonderful views of Lake Biwa.
A real pilgrim would of course scoff at mechanical contraptions and climb the mountain, which is fairly easy as this isn't really more than an oversized hill. The traditional route is a convenient path of mossy steps known as Honzaka (本坂), starting from Sakamoto, but it's still 500 meters (vertical) to the top. There are also many other routes, with numerous small temples and waterfalls along the way, but watch out as signposting (even in Japanese) is lacking. You may see monkeys along the way as well.
See
The cable car lets out in front of two broadcast towers and an incongrous garden that appears to feature flowers and recreations of Impressionist art. Stop by the garden's ticket booth to ask for a map to Hiei's main attraction (see below), about twenty minutes' walk through atmospheric forest.
The temples on Mt. Hiei are collectively known as Enryakuji (延暦寺), literally "Long Calendar Temple". The large complex is generally divided into three sections known as the Eastern Pagoda (東塔 Tōdo), the Western Pagoda (西塔 Saito) and Yokawa; neither of the pagodas actually exist any more, but the names live on. Most of the better-known temples are concentrated in the Eastern Pagoda area.
- Konpon Chudō (根本中堂), the central hall of the temple, contains the Inextinguishable Dharma Light (不減の法灯), a fire that has been burning for 1200 years. There is always a monk assigned to tend the fire and chant sutras here.
- Bruno Petzold Monument, [2]. There is a station near the top of the Sakamoto Cable run called Motateyama. Walking a few hundred meters from this stop will bring you to a monument which has been erected to the memory of Bruno Petzold, a German Tendai Bishop and scholar who lived in Japan until his death in 1949.
There are some temples and shrines of lesser interest in Sakamoto as well.
- Hiyoshi Taisha (日吉大社; [3]) is a fairly standard-issue large Japanese Shinto shrine, best known for its autumn foliage (October through November) and three ancient stone bridges.
Eat & Drink
- Hiyoshi Sansō (日吉山荘) within the Hiyoshi Taisha shrine is a traditional teahouse in an extremely scenic little river gorge, particularly popular in fall. Food prices are quite steep (¥800 for soba!), but you can also bring your food for a ¥300 charge per head.
- There is a small restaurant by the Sakamoto Cable Car Mt. Hiei station, serving all the usual suspects.
Sleep
There is a wide range of accommodation in Sakamoto, but many visitors choose to day-trip from Kyoto instead.
- Saikyōji Youth Hostel (西教寺ＹＨ, tel. 077-578-0013) in Sakamoto is a good but somewhat inconveniently located hostel on the northern outskirts of town, although you can take a bus from either station (5-7 minutes, get off at Saikyōji). While affiliated with and run by a temple, the building itself is modern. HI members pay ¥3255 a night plus ¥630/1050 for breakfast/dinner. As a bonus, Saikyoji is itself a Tendai temple complex worth visiting, especially because of its views of Lake Biwa and Japanese maple leaves (momiji) in autumn. There are what looks like footprints and handprints on some of the wooden slats in the roof circling the temple; these are rumored to be the old floor slats with bloody handprints and footprints from ritual suicides.
