Kyoto · Sagano · Japan

Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple

templestone statuesunusualgoogle verified

moderate

9/10

best: August_evening, morning

eerie, moving, unusual, historic

A local would say...

Thousands of moss-covered stone figures stand for people whose bodies were once left to rot in this forest — walk among them.

An unusual temple at the far end of the Sagano walking route, housing thousands of stone Buddhist statues commemorating abandoned souls left unburied in the forest in ancient times. The dense gathering of worn stone figures creates a genuinely eerie and moving atmosphere unlike anything else in Kyoto. Candles are lit here on the evenings of 23 and 24 August for the Sentō Kuyō ceremony.