Although there are several routes to hike, we hiked frrom the Lake Biwa side. Similar to the Kyoto side, you will walk a short distance through town, and then walk up into the trail head. The trail head is a little confusing so be sure to look for the big set of stairs, this is your hike marker.
Tips for Enryakuji:
- The "trail" is all but non-existent, you will really feel like you are lost in the woods for the first 45 minutes.
- The trail looks like a washed out riverbed
- Many people take the tram up, leaving the trail pretty isolated (we hiked at 12pm and ran across maybe 4-5 other people/families)
- We would recommend hiking up and then tramming down, parts of the hike were difficult going up and seemed a little dicey to try and travel down.
- Bring your camera, there are several great look outs, and some really cool things to see on the trail
Once at Enryakuji be sure to check out every building. Each one has something that makes it unique. In the large building dedicated to world peace you can walk up to the wooden wall where the Buddha is behind (there are no signs saying this is ok, but it is. Just be respectful of tour groups and people meditating/praying). From this "wall" you will be able to peek into where the buddhists sit, write, and meditate. You can also enter into a pagoda, which we have never seen anywhere else (at least not yet).
Here are some photos of our hike and of Enryakuji:
what we guessed to be a small cemetery
Really old stone statues (possibly headstones?) with the characters barely visible
A small temple/shrine just south of the Enrakuji Temple Complex. There was no one else around, so it had this really amazing, yet eery feel to it.
Someone had left their shoes
Many of the buildings had protective dogs outside
Tram station -really worth taking if you are not up for a good hike, or if you only want to hike one way.
How beautiful! Love the dogs.
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