Honzansekitoji Temple

Honzan Sekitoji is said to date from the end of the Kamakura period, when the priest Nichizo built a hall beside a stone stupa inscribed with the Lotus invocation in front of Muko Shrine, and named it Sekitoji. Yamabuki and azaleas grow thickly in the grounds. The Kaide daimoku dance, performed at the flower festival each May, re-enacts a story: the steam rising from rice Nichizo had cooked formed the invocation Namu Myoho Renge Kyo in white, and the villagers who saw it rejoiced. The dance is an intangible folk cultural property of Kyoto Prefecture.