Hyogo, Japan Dec. 23 Mon 3:24AM
Forest Temple
Mount Shosha is famous for being the grounds of the Engyoji Temple. Engyoji has a history of over a thousand years.
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Engyoji Temple is guarded by the majestic Niomon Gate. From here, it takes about 10-15 minutes to reach the main wooden temple hall or, Maniden. There is also a minibus in operation between the upper ropeway station straight through to Maniden.
The forest trails lead to various massive wooden temple halls and an observation deck with views overlooking Himeji City and Castle.
Many historical movies and TV dramas are filmed on these grounds because they are void of any modern infrastructure and entirely encapsulated by forest. The movie “The Last Sumrai” was partially shot on Mount Shosha, and some of the scenes were shot inside one of the wooden temple halls!
Shoshazan is located at the edge of Himeji City, and can be accessed in 30 minutes via bus or ropeway. The nature-enclosed aspect of these temple grounds makes the experience of visiting feel truly spiritual.
Cover photo and all photos in article except starred are by 663highland (663highland) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
