In 788, the Buddhist monk Saicho climbed Mount Hiei on the northeastern edge of Kyoto and built a small hermitage. He had a specific reason for the location: northeast was the direction from which evil spirits were believed to approach, and the new capital of Heian-kyo -- present-day Kyoto -- needed spiritual protection. With backing from Emperor Kanmu, Saicho traveled to China and brought back the teachings of the Tiantai school, founding the Tendai sect of Japanese Buddhism. His monks lived in strict seclusion for twelve years of study and meditation. The best students stayed; the rest entered government service. By the Heian period's peak, Enryaku-ji had swelled to 3,000 sub-temples and become the most influential religious institution in Japan. The founders of Jodo-shu, Soto Zen, and Nichiren Buddhism all trained within its halls before departing to establish their own schools.

Power corrupted the mountain monastery in spectacular fashion. By the tenth century, succession disputes between followers of the monks Ennin and Enchin split the Tendai sect into warring factions based at Enryaku-ji and the rival temple of Mii-dera. Both sides recruited warrior monks -- sohei -- who did far more than settle theological disagreements. Tendai leaders hired mercenary armies that marched on Kyoto itself to enforce demands on the imperial court. For centuries, the monks of Mount Hiei represented one of the most feared military forces in Japan, their sacred status making them politically untouchable. The capital cowered when the mountain rumbled.

On September 30, 1571, warlord Oda Nobunaga decided that no power in Japan would rival his own. His army attacked Enryaku-ji from every direction, setting fire to the 3,000 sub-temples and slaughtering monks, women, and children sheltering on the mountain. The destruction was total and deliberate -- Nobunaga intended to erase not just the monastery's military threat but its very existence. Only one minor building survived: the Ruri-do, a small structure hidden down an unmarked path, dating to the thirteenth century. Everything visitors see today was rebuilt between the late sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries. The main hall was reconstructed in 1642 under Tokugawa Iemitsu. Some buildings were transferred whole from other temples, including ironically from Mii-dera, the old rival.

Modern Enryaku-ji clusters its buildings in three areas spread across Mount Hiei's forested ridgeline. The Todo (Eastern Pagoda) precinct holds the monastery's most important structures and serves as its spiritual heart. The Saito (Western Pagoda) precinct lies a twenty-minute walk downhill, with several significant halls of its own. Yokokawa, the most remote of the three, sits about ninety minutes away on foot and is most easily reached by bus. The entire complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto. Thick cedar forests blanket the mountain slopes between the precincts, and on clear days the view eastward extends across Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake. The monastery remains the active headquarters of the Tendai sect, its bells still ringing across the same ridgeline where Saicho built his hermitage over twelve centuries ago.