Amabikisan Rakuhōji (Amabiki Kannon) — Attraction in Sakuragawa

The temple is located atop a small hill with great views to the plains.

Beautiful place enshrining the "rain pulling" goddess. (The temple is also a special place to pray for safe child birth. one can see many new mothers and babies). There are peacocks, geese, turtles, ducks, koi fish...in the multiple ponds in the temple precinct. There's even a cute little waterfall. The place is famous for both sakura hanami (cherry blossom viewing) during spring and ajisai (hydrangea) festival during rainy season (late June/early July). There are ajisai delightful decorations in the ponds! With 1000s of hydrangea flowers of various shades blooming on plants covering all sides of the little hill, the place is a little heaven during the rainy season. A must visit if around tsukuba (an hour's drive from Tsukuba center). Good also as a part of hiking/bicycling (along Rin Rin road from Tsukuba followed by uphill walk/ride). The place is also...

A lovely temple that had lots of plum trees flowers at the time of the visit. There were 3 forlorn looking peacocks (and peahens) in a very small barren enclosure in the car park (sad), but ducks and a peacock were roaming free in other areas of the complex. The temple buildings have some very intricate carvings on them. There's also a small pagoda and a bell tower. There two pond areas which are popular with visitors who feed the ducks. The temple seems to be a place popular with families bringing their newlyborn babies to be blessed. There's also a small gift shop (where you can buy the duck food) The view from the top is also very nice and I'd be interested to visit on a clear day again in the future. Finally, word has it that the large black entrance gate was originally from a local castle, so it's worth...

My second time to visit and have forgotten how long the bus wait was from Tsukubasanguchi, (waited for about 2 hours for the bus to Amabiki Kannon.) Rode the 1:30 and arrived at the temple at 2:15. It’s located atop a hill overlooking the Kanto plains as Omido. Looked for the sound of peacock but didn’t see any except some big carps swimming in the pond near the pagoda. The wisteria are still hanging beautifully and also colorful peonies. Got my Bandosanjukasho stamp then went back to the bus stop to catch the 3:05 bus going to Iwase station...