Kurama-dera

At the top of the climb: level stone, cedars, and a mountain that keeps rising behind the hall. Kurama-dera's own history tells of a boy sent here at about seven, who studied by day and by night went up alone, to be taught swordsmanship by tengu, the winged mountain beings of Japanese folklore. Doors that open once every 60 years, two stone tigers, and a road Sei Shōnagon listed among things near and yet far.