Otokunidera Temple

Otokunidera, in Nagaokakyo, is best known for the roughly 1,000 peonies that bloom in shades of pink, purple, yellow, and white each April. The first flowers were donated in 1940 by Hasedera temple in Nara to help the temple recover after a typhoon. The grounds carry deeper historical weight: in 812, this was where Kukai and Saicho, the founders of Shingon and Tendai Buddhism respectively, met so Kukai could transmit secret esoteric teachings. The temple's principal object of worship, the Hachiman Kobo Gattai Daishi statue, is shown to the public only once every 33 years. A separate hall houses the unusual 'Melancholic Bishamonten,' a somber-faced portrayal of a deity usually depicted as fierce.