Iwamadera Temple

Founded in 722 by the priest Taicho after hearing what he believed to be the mantra of Kannon emanating from katsura trees on the site. The temple's main object of worship, a 15-centimeter gilt-bronze Kannon statue once owned by Empress Gensho, is kept in the main hall but not displayed to the public. Local belief holds that the statue flies nightly into the underworld to rescue souls, returning each morning drenched in sweat. In the garden, a pond is said to have inspired Matsuo Basho's most famous haiku about a frog jumping into still water, composed during one of his visits.