Chuson-ji

Temple records say Ennin founded Chuson-ji in 850, but its great age began in the early 12th century, when Fujiwara no Kiyohira built a complex of more than 40 halls and pagodas on Kanzan hill. He meant it to console the dead of the wars that had torn Tohoku apart and to found a peaceful state on Buddhist lines. Hiraizumi flourished for about a century, until Minamoto no Yoritomo destroyed the Fujiwara in 1189.

The Konjikido is the reason most people come. Completed in 1124, it is the only 12th-century building at Chuson-ji to survive in its original form, and gold leaf covers it inside and out apart from the roof. It was the first building ever named a National Treasure in Japan. The Sankozo museum beside it holds most of the temple's more than 3,000 National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties.

The approach up Tsukimizaka runs under cedars the Date clan planted three to four centuries ago. Nearby Motsu-ji keeps the Pure Land garden Kiyohira's son Motohira began and his grandson Hidehira completed. Wikidata records the temple as part of the Hiraizumi World Heritage Site.