Daigo-ji is one of the great temple complexes of southern Kyoto, founded in 874 on the slopes of Daigo mountain. The lower precinct contains a five-storey pagoda built in 951 -- the oldest surviving wooden structure in Kyoto Prefecture -- and elaborate Edo-period garden ponds commissioned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi for his famous cherry blossom viewing party of 1598.
The upper precinct, reached by a forty-minute climb through cedar forest, contains the original Heian-period hall where the founding monk Rigen Daishi practised. The spring cherry blossoms in the Sanboin garden -- around 700 trees -- are among the finest in Kyoto. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.