Jinnoji Temple
It is said that Jinnoji Temple was founded in 860 by Gyokyo, the same monk who established the nearby Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine. The temple was originally built to house a memorial tablet of Emperor Ojin, the legendary fifteenth emperor of Japan.
Jinnoji has been a Soto Zen temple since the Muromachi period (1336–1573). It was recognized and revered by powerful figures such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) and many of the Tokugawa shoguns, starting with Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616).
The main hall houses a statue of Yakushi, the Buddha of medicine and healing. It also contains a statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in court regalia and a statue of Gyokyo from the early Heian period (794–1185), which is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property. The Gyokyo statue was originally enshrined in Iwashimizu Hachimangu when it was still a shrine-temple complex. After the government ordered the separation of Shinto and Buddhist religious practice in 1868, the statue was transferred to Jinnoji.
The area in the valley at the base of the temple is called Okunoin and contains several halls, one of them dedicated to Fudo Myo-o, a Buddhist Wisdom King. Some worshippers also visit Okunoin to engage in ascetic waterfall mediation at the Hikime waterfall.