Sefuku-ji, Buddhist temple on Mount Makio in Izumi, Japan
Sefuku-ji is a Buddhist temple near the summit of Mount Makio in Izumi, with a reconstructed main hall housing numerous Buddhist statues and religious objects. The complex sits among forested slopes and is surrounded by stone walls that remain from earlier times.
The temple was founded during the Nara period as a training ground for Shugendo practices. Thousands of sub-temples were lost when Oda Nobunaga led military campaigns through the region.
The sanctuary preserves a thousand-armed Kannon figure from the Keicho period and serves as the fourth station along the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage route. Walkers pause here to pray before the images arranged inside the main hall.
You reach the temple after walking roughly one kilometer uphill from the Makiosan bus stop. Access is available Tuesday through Sunday between 8 AM and 4 PM.
Old stone walls covered in moss lie scattered across the mountainside and mark the sites of former sub-temples. These remains give a sense of how widespread the religious community once was here.
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