Takaosan Yakuōin Yukiji Temple

Took cable car up Mt Takao. The cable car is the steepest one in Japan. From the drop off point, we still have to walk to the temple. We passed many trees, monuments, statues, shops, attractions , people before we reach the temple.

If you love hiking, this is the place for beginners to go up to the top and on a good clear day, Mt. Fuji can be seen. A good attraction just outside Tokyo central (1hr 20+ mins from Shinjuku)

Yakuoin Temple [高尾山藥王院] of Takao Mountain, initially built in 744 AD, worships the Medicine God, although current major worship halls were built in 1729 and 1753 and were renovated and expanded a few times in 18th and 19th centuries.

While visitors of Yakuoin Temple may be impressed at Temple complex, but mountain road from cable car station of Yakuoin Temple to the Temple itself is an ultimate tour attraction because it has many maple leaves trees and other types of trees, especially cedar trees. Temple does have cedar Tree project to increase planting cedar trees after evidence indicates that its initially planted cedar trees did survive the hurricane and became the windbreak for the temple and mountain road.

Both Yakuoin Temple and Takao Mountain are popular spots for religious worshippers and non-religious visitors and mountain hikers and climbers. Thus, rail transportations and cable trains/cars to the Takao Mountain can be long waiting in weekends, holidays, and in religious days. To save time for waiting for ticket purchase for cable trains/cars, it is better for visitors to buy discounted packaged tickets for Keio Rail Tickets and Cable Trains/Cars, and visitors can save time for waiting for ticket purchase. However, in weekends and holidays, almost every spot, including toilets, ice cream shops, and temple's service counters, have long lines and require wait time of 20 minutes or longer.

While Temple does not disallow visitors to bring their pets to the Temple, it is probably safer for visitors not to bring their pets to visit the Temple when there are huge crowds of visitors. Pets should not feel pressure for congestion either.

Gorgeous! The hike to the top of the mountain was tough for this family but so worth it. We took the ski lift on the way down to rest our legs. It was so worth every step. We had a beautiful view of Tokyo and Mount Fuji. We visited the monkey park. Our boys loved it!

Nice temple at the top is a small mountain. Pretty peaceful.

Temple on mount takao, hiked from the bus stop to the cable car station. The temple is near to the cable car station.

A very beautiful and amazing experience I had.

This is a great place for a day trip and the evening drums and prayers at sunset (only over loudspeaker) add to the ambience of a real temple. The scenery is stunning and on a clear day you can see Mt Fuji from the summit.

Fantastic walk up Mount Takao.
We took Track 1 up which is the main one. Plenty of room for walkers and runners. Concrete path that is very steep and a great workout.
Drink vendors and all sorts of food and nick nacks halfway up.
Strongly strongly recommend track 6 for the way down. Goes into more Bush and smaller tracks with part of it being a rock hoping down a stream. Far more fun, and more relaxing then the path up.

👺髙尾山 薬王院 有喜寺 Takaosan Yakuōin Yukiji Buddhist Temple is dedicated to 飯縄権現 Izuna Gongen.
The main sanctuary has a pair of tengu statues on the sides of the stairs to the temple. On the right a long nosed tengu holding a magic fan and on the left a crow tengu with a raised sword.
In addition, there are a pair of large votive tablets under the eves with tengu masks (a red faced 大天狗 (daitengu) greater tengu or 鼻高天狗 (hanatakatengu) tall/long nosed tengu on the right and a blue faced 小天狗 (kotengu) small tengu or 烏天狗 (karasu-tengu) crow tengu with a beaked face on the left).
The main sanctuary has some magnificent dragon carvings above the front eves.

Very beautiful and I interesting place. Not too crowded on a Sunday. Cooler than being in the city. If you take the lift the walk up the mountain isn't too steep. You can visit with children.

Beautiful collection of shrines on the way to the summit of mount Takao. Highly recommend stopping buy and doing a few prayers or relaxing. Many lucky trinkets on sale specific to the region and also vending machines for refreshments.

Make sure to take the side paths as there are a few hidden gems.

A surprisingly crowded temple. Then again, I visited a day before a PH. Be prepared to wait for the goshuin and the chair lift; I waited slightly over an hour. There are some small eats near the temple. The soy sauce sesame dango was amazing.

Great outdoors experience with adaptability for all kinds of visitors from the very Young with baby cars to the elderly that search for a more relaxed stroll with friends or his pets. I personally recommend the more wild strenous course for those looking for a more serious hiking adventure the best reward is enjoying Sakura season with the snowy beauty of Fuji San peack in the background.

An easy hiking course for about 2-3 hours. The soba on top was so great. I wish I had more time to experience the shrine and more than 100 stone markers.

Love this place I try to get here as much as I can. This time I did the full hike which only took less than 1.5hr to the top. Unfortunately trails 4 and 6 were covered in snow so I’ll be back on a warmer day. Great views of Fuji-San on this day.

Beautiful shrine with a lot of statues. The design on the door of the temple is really amazing. It’s near from the takao summit.

It is near the takaosan cable car station. Just after the octopus ceddar tree. They said this temple is so old. It is the japan heritage. It is a sacred and holy place for Japanese. I am afraid behaving impolite by taking picture. You can continue your walk to the Takao summit via upstair in the temple, just go ahead, there is a gate to go there.

This beautiful temple close to the top of Mt Takao is only a one-hour train ride from Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo, but it is a place of great serenity and mystical power.
The temple belongs to the Shingon School of esoteric Buddhism, which is rich with symbols, rituals, and deities. Here it also blends in various elements of Shugendo, the ascetic way of "mountain-worshipping" monks (yamabushi) that combines both Buddhism and Shintoism. The central object of worship of the temple and the adjacent shrine is thus Izuna Dai-Gongen, who is both the Shintoist god of the mountain as well as an incarnation (an avatar) of the Buddhist wisdom king Acalar.
The temple offers meditation weekends in non-Corona times, which are are an intriguing experience. But walking among the ancient trees on a quiet day, or taking one of the hiking paths up or down the mountain already provides a respite from busy city life and an almost spiritual experience.
This is my all-time favorite temple in Tokyo Prefecture.

This is a beautiful temple and shrine complex, about halfway up Mount Takao (高尾山). The buildings harmonize with the Japanese cypress and other trees, and appear to have been in place for a long time, and the original temple is supposed to have been established more than 1250 years ago. Cool statues of tengo. Lots of stairs!