Buddhist templeKyoto · JP
Zennō-ji Temple
Zennō-ji (善能寺) is a small, free-to-enter temple of the Shingon Sennyū-ji branch tucked into the forested Sennyū-ji and Imakumano temple district on the eastern edge of Kyoto. Far from the crowds of Kiyomizu-dera a couple of miles to the north, it draws its quiet appeal from two intertwined stories: a founding legend that links it to Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) and to the very first enshrinement of Inari as a Buddhist-protecting deity, and a modern memorial hall raised in memory of an aviation disaster. The main image is a statue of Shō-Kannon (the Holy Kannon bodhisattva), and the temple is one of the stations of the Rakuyo Sanjusansho, the revived thirty-three-temple Kannon pilgrimage circuit within old Kyoto. For pilgrims and curious visitors alike, it offers an unhurried, local-feeling stop in the temple woods near Tōfuku-ji.