Izurusan Manganji

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Recherche et rédaction Hinato

ManganjiIzuru sobaBando pilgrimagewaterfall trainingTochigi City

Photo: LERK / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · original

Manganji sits at the head of a narrow valley in the hills north of Tochigi City, founded according to its own account in 765 by the priest Shodo Shonin — the same monk credited with opening Nikko. It is the seventeenth station of the Bando pilgrimage, and its main hall, rebuilt in 1764, is counted alongside the halls at Tsukuba and Kofukuji in Nara as one of the three great Midō of Japan.

Behind the main hall the path continues to the Daihi Falls, an eight-metre waterfall where ascetic training under the water still goes on year-round, and further up a stone stairway to the inner sanctuary. Both zazen sessions and waterfall training can be arranged in advance. The other reason people drive up here is the soba: the approach road is lined with shops selling Izuru soba, made with buckwheat grown in the valley, and for most visitors from the prefecture the temple and the noodles are a single outing.

Informations essentielles

Horaires d'ouverture

Grounds open during daylight hours | Inner sanctuary path daylight only

Fermé: Open year-round | Mountain path may be closed in snow or after heavy rain

Tarif d'entrée

Free (main hall) | Mountain and inner sanctuary: ¥300 | Zazen and waterfall training priced separately, by advance booking

Meilleure saison

Late October–November for autumn colour | Winter for the waterfall training season

Durée de visite

90 minutes at the temple | 2.5 hours with a soba lunch

Comment s'y rendre

Informations d'accès

Izuru-machi, Tochigi City. Car recommended — from Tochigi IC on the Tohoku Expressway, or from Sano-Tanuma IC on the Kita-Kanto Expressway. The main hall is free to visit; entry to the mountain and inner sanctuary costs ¥300. Zazen and waterfall training must be booked in advance. Izuru soba shops line the approach road.

Guide d'initié

**Eat the soba, and eat it here.** Izuru soba is grown and made in this valley and the shops on the approach are the point of it. Most people from Tochigi drive up for the noodles and visit the temple around them, which is a perfectly reasonable order of priorities. **Pay the ¥300 and go up.** The main hall is free but the mountain path behind it — the Daihi Falls and the stone stairway to the inner sanctuary — is where the site becomes memorable. It is a moderate climb, not a hike. **Waterfall training is genuinely available.** Standing under the eight-metre Daihi Falls is a booked activity that runs year-round, including in winter. Zazen in the grounds is arranged the same way. Both need contacting the temple in advance. **Winter is the serious season for the falls.** Ascetics train here through the cold months and the valley freezes hard. If you are watching rather than participating, that is when it is most striking. **No practical public transport.** This is a car destination. Budget for the drive and treat it as a half-day rather than a stop.

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