Maniji Temple

Maniji Temple, a Tendai temple at the foot of Mount Mani

Maniji Temple (摩尼寺, Kiken-zan Maniji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Kakuji, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, traditionally founded by the monk Ennin in the Jōwa era (834 to 848), and three of its buildings, the main hall, the main gate and the bell tower, were entered on the national register as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 19, 2014.

Locals call it "Mani-san." The temple describes itself as belonging to the Anraku-ritsu line of the Tendai school, and its own website names Taishakuten, the Buddhist form of the Indian god Indra, as the principal image. The Tottori City tourism site adds the Thousand-Armed Kannon to the objects of worship.

The mountain behind Maniji Temple matters as much as the buildings. Mount Mani, 357 meters high, was long believed to be the place where the souls of the dead from the old province of Inaba lingered before moving on. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the whole mountain as forming the temple's precinct, and on October 3, 2016 it was registered as a monument under the name Mount Mani. Its highlights are the Oku-no-in, a cluster of boulders and rock shelters near the summit, and Tateiwa (Washigamine), a crag with views over the Sea of Japan and the Tottori Sand Dunes.

How Maniji Temple moved down the mountain

The temple chronicle of 1683 credits the founding to Ennin, the third head of the Tendai order on Mt. Hiei. Archaeology tells a later story. When Tottori University of Environmental Studies excavated the Oku-no-in site in 2010, it found that a temple compound was first laid out on the summit no earlier than the late 10th century.

The same chronicle says the mountain was burned in 1581, when Hashiba (later Toyotomi) Hideyoshi besieged Tottori Castle, and that the lord Ikeda Mitsumasa revived the temple in 1617. A local gazetteer of 1795 argued that the temple Hideyoshi burned was the one up in the Oku-no-in valley, not the present site.

At some point between 1688 and 1795 the halls came down from the summit to the foot of the slope. The university's 2015 survey report points to the years around 1718, when Maniji became a branch of the Anraku-in on Mt. Hiei, as the most likely time. An illustrated guide to Inaba scenery dated 1858 already shows the temple on its present terraces.

The buildings you see today went up in stages: the priests' quarters in 1823, the main hall in 1860, the main gate in the middle of the Meiji era (the survey gives 1889), the bell tower in 1892 and the Zenkoji Nyorai Hall in 1912. The university's survey of the precinct, begun in 2013, led directly to the 2014 registration of the main hall, gate and bell tower.

Walking through the Maniji Temple precinct

From the bottom of the approach, 303 stone steps lead up to the main hall. About halfway up stands the Niōmon, a two-story gate that Tottori Prefecture made a Protected Cultural Property on November 29, 2005. Temple tradition says it was brought from Unjōji on Takuhi-san in the Oki Islands in the late 16th century, though the survey dates the present structure to the 18th century.

Above the Niōmon the steps climb on and, just below the top, turn at a right angle. The main gate of Maniji Temple waits at the turn, its plastered side walls folding around the last flight like a pair of wings. The bell tower stands on the corner plot to the east of the gate, and together the gate and tower make up the temple's front.

Through the gate, the main hall faces you from the north. To its west a corridor crossing a garden pond links it to the priests' quarters, and on a raised terrace to the east stands the Zenkoji Nyorai Hall of 1912. Between the two halls is the Sanso-dō, dedicated to the founders Saichō, Kūkai and Ennin, and beside the bell tower is a small hall to Enma, judge of the dead. Both were moved down from the summit and rebuilt after the Second World War.

Paths behind the precinct continue up to Tateiwa, the Oku-no-in and the Sai-no-kawara, the parts of Mount Mani that earned the mountain its registration.

Visiting Maniji Temple: hours and access

According to the temple's website, Maniji Temple is open to visitors from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Tottori City tourism site gives the opening time as 9:30 a.m., so check with the temple if you plan an early visit. The kaidan meguri, a walk through a darkened passage, costs 300 yen. The temple's phone number is 0857-23-5300.

By car the temple is about 20 minutes from JR Tottori Station and about 20 minutes from the Tottori-nishi interchange, and there is a parking area at the foot of the steps; the city tourism site lists 10 spaces. Without a car, take a local bus from JR Tottori Station for about 20 minutes to the Manidera-guchi stop, then walk roughly 3.1 kilometers uphill, which takes about 50 minutes. Check the return bus times before you set off.

Some of the 303 steps are steep, so wear shoes with good grip. The precinct is busiest on festival days: a fire ritual (goma) on the 1st of every month, the Taishakuten festival from July 26 to 28, and memorial services on the third Sunday of April and October. For a quiet look at the buildings, pick another day.