Kurama-dera (鞍馬寺)

Quick Facts

Type

Shrine or temple

Prefecture

Kyoto · Kyoto (Sakyō)

Nearest station

Kurama Station (Eizan Railway Kurama Line)

From the station

Three minutes to the Niō gate; about 30 minutes uphill to the main hall, or the cable car for part of the way

English signage

none

Opening hours and admission

See the official site · information checked on 2026-11-03

Hours, admission and closing days change, and this site does not list them. The link goes to the place's own page, with the date we last checked it.

What is there

Kurama-dera sits on the mountain of the same name, half an hour north of the city by the little Eizan railway, whose terminus is guarded by a tengu head taller than a person. The temple was founded in 770. From the Niō gate a path and a cable car climb to the main hall, and beyond it a trail runs over the exposed roots of the cedars to the inner sanctuary and down the far side to Kibune. The temple’s own teaching treats the mountain as a source of power, and the tengu is everywhere in its imagery, from the gate to the charms.

Why here

Sōjōbō, the king of the tengu, is said to have lived in the valley of the inner sanctuary and to have taught the boy Ushiwakamaru, later the general Yoshitsune, to fight with a sword by night. The Noh play on the subject and the shrine to Yoshitsune in the valley keep the story on the mountain. The tengu of Kurama is the proud, powerful master of the medieval tales, closer to a mountain god than to the bird-faced creature that steals children in the village records.

Yokai you will meet

Tengu 天狗 — Sōjōbō's mountain, where the king of the tengu trained Yoshitsune; the great tengu head outside the station.

In manga: Kamisama Kiss

Getting there

Kurama Station (Eizan Railway Kurama Line). Three minutes to the Niō gate; about 30 minutes uphill to the main hall, or the cable car for part of the way.

Sources and further reading

Reliable secondary Kurama-dera Kurama-dera Official site of the temple.

Reliable secondary Kurama-dera: entering the mountain Kurama-dera The mountain entry fee page and the route from the gate to the main hall.

Database Kurama-dera (鞍馬寺) Wikipedia (Japanese) Foundation in 770, Sōjōbō and Ushiwakamaru, the inner sanctuary trail and the tengu at the station.

Other places with these yokai

Tōno Municipal Museum 遠野市立博物館 Museum Tōno, Iwate — Tengu

Tōno Folktale Museum とおの物語の館 Museum Tōno, Iwate — Tengu

Kashōzan Mirokuji 迦葉山弥勒寺 Shrine or temple Numata, Gunma — Tengu

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Mizuki Shigeru Road 水木しげるロード Street Sakaiminato, Tottori — Tengu

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Other places in Kyoto

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Japan Oni Exchange Museum 日本の鬼の交流博物館 Museum Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — A museum of oni at the foot of Mount Ōe, where the oni king's fortress stood in the tale, with a roof tile five metres high outside.

Kubizuka Daimyōjin 首塚大明神 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Nishikyō, Oinosaka pass), Kyoto — A small shrine on the old road at the pass west of Kyoto, where the oni king's head was buried because it could not be carried into the capital.

Onitake Inari Shrine on Mount Ōe 鬼嶽稲荷神社 Shrine or temple Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — A lone shrine at the eighth station of the oni's mountain, where the trail to Shuten-dōji's summit begins and the valley below fills with cloud at dawn.

Ichijō Yōkai Street and Daishōgun Hachi Shrine 一条妖怪ストリート（大将軍商店街）と大将軍八神社 Street Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — Four hundred metres of shops on the road the night parade once took, with yokai figures at their doors and the shrine of the direction god at the west end.