In this seventh driving installment, I’m putting out a challenge to anyone to try and guess where these beautiful buildings and gardens are located. I’ll give you some hints: It is in Kansai; 
you have to drive there; it is part of a site with several National Treasures in it; it is not in a city; it is a short drive from one of the oldest and most important temples in the country; it is a favorite momiji-gari site, and its Okuno-in was somewhat damaged during a 2006 typhoon and recently restored.
There are many things to see here including a pains-takingly restored 8th Century 5-tier pagoda. I would urge you to go early before the mayhem of tour buses carrying hundreds of happy grandmothers show up because then, the serenity of the place is most 
definitely compromised. But no matter because there is also a nice walking trail into the woods that gets much less traffic than the main temple sites, so if you really need to get away you can.
There, those are all the hints I can give you without telling you the answer! Enter you guesses into comments below and thanks for the taking the time! Driving in Japan is big fun!
Take good care and drive carefully on the narrow mountain roads, especially when the weather is bad. CYa!
Martin Werner Zander, Smith’s Partner
マーティン・ワーナー・ザンダー
Smith’s School of English Kotoen Nigawa Sakasegawa Nishinomiya
月謝制のスミス英会話 甲東園 校 仁川 校 逆瀬川 校 西宮市
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/kotoen.shtml
Smith’s School of English Fukushima Umeda Osaka
月謝制のスミス英会話 福島 校 梅田 大阪市
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/fukushima.shtml
4 Comments
Martin,
My knowledge of Japan in limited to the area i live in, so i will guess Mii-dera in Ohtsu. Mii-dera has National Treasures. It is a short drive from Enryakuji, which is one of the oldest Buddhist monastery’s in Japan. And the time i went there, they were repairing buildings and walkways that were damaged during a storm. And in the mornings when I am flyering outside JR Ohtsu, I often see groups of grandmothers getting on buses to go to Mii-dera.
Am I right?
Edward, SSE Ohtsu
Hi Martin,
I was wondering if this is Murouji or perhaps Hasedera? I used to live in the moutains of Nara and it looks similar to those.
I would love to learn the answer!
-Les
Hi Martin,
With my limited knowledge of Japans geography, i’ll have a stab in the dark, and say these photos were taken somewhere close to Koya San?
I look forward to finding out the location as it looks to be a very nice place to visit!
Tim.
Les!
Top marks to your sharp eye! It is indeed Murou-ji! Great!
Thank you all for taking a stab at it!
Martin