峰の薬師, Buddhist temple in Midori-ku district, Japan.
峰の薬師 (Mine no Yakushi) is a Buddhist temple in Midori-ku, Japan, built on a hilltop that rises above Lake Tsukui. From this elevated position, the temple looks out over the valley toward the Sagami River and the mountains beyond.
The temple was founded at the end of the 15th century, during a period when Buddhist temple construction was spreading across Japan. Several fires in the centuries that followed destroyed much of the written record from its earliest years.
The temple is dedicated to Yakushi Buddha, who is associated in Japan with healing and recovery from illness. Visitors can see people moving through the grounds with quiet devotion, placing offerings and pausing in prayer.
The temple is reached by bus from Hashimoto Station, and the last stretch to the grounds involves a walk uphill on a local path. Comfortable footwear is a good idea, as the ascent through the hillside terrain takes a little time.
The temple appears as the setting for a duel scene in Tsuneo Tomita's novel 'Sugata Sanshiro', a story that later inspired a film by Akira Kurosawa. Readers who know the book sometimes recognize the location and see the grounds through that story.
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