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If your time in Kawagoe is limited, you should make Kita-in a priority. This main temple complex of the Tendai Buddhist sect, 500m southeast of the kurazukuri , is notable because it contains the only remaining structures from Edo Castle, now the site of Tokyo's Imperial Palace. There's been a temple on these grounds since 830 AD, and it gained fame when the first Tokugawa Shogun Ieyasu declared the head priest Tenkai Sojo a "living Buddha". Such was the reverence in which the priests here were held in that, when the temple was burnt down in 1638, the third Shogun Iemitsu, donated an annex palace from Edo castle as a replacement building. You have to pay an entry fee (Y400) to view the palace part of the temple, but it's well worth it. The room with a painted ceiling of floral designs is believed to be where Iemitsu was born. Serene gardens surround the palace and a covered wooden bridge leads across into the temple's inner sanctum, decorated with a dazzling golden chandelier. The entry fee also includes access to the Gohyaku Rakan , a remarkable grove of stone statues. Although the name translates as "500 Rakans", there are actually 540 of these enigmatic dwarf disciples of Buddha, and no two arealike. The different expressions on their faces are fascinating; it's also fun to search for the statue which bears the Chinese symbols of your birth year. As if this isn't enough, Kita-in also has its own mini Tosho-gu , enshrining the spirit of Tokugawa Ieyasu, decorated with bright colours and elaborate carvings like its famous cousin in Nikko.
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