Yamaguchi Kannon // Pagoda near Seibu Dome and Tamako Lake

Just about 10 minutes from our house is the Yamaguchi Kannon, or "the pagoda by Tamako Lake and the Seibu Dome," as it's more commonly known around here :)

Complete with a beautiful orange pagoda, a temple, offering houses, dragons, stone carvings of the lunar year gods, cemetery, and caged rooster and peacocks (!).  They really have everything!  We had a lot of fun exploring the grounds and marveling at the beauty of all of the buildings and stone carvings.

I think the kids have perfected their dragon faces!

Here's the stone carving of the god for the lunar year of the rooster, which is what Peter and I are.  These carvings were incredible!  They were each carved out of a large rock, which was still intact all around it.

Clara and I have loved seeing all of the hydrangeas this season, and so here we, posing with our "pretty flower faces."  That girl is such a little riot.

There's a cemetery on the hill near the pagoda, but also, in front of the temple are these steps of small statues.  I'm not sure if there are remains in each of these, but there were hundreds of these little statues and shrines, and many of them looked to be dedicated to babies and young children.

And, probably the craziest part of the whole property are the caged rooster and peacocks!  This guy was showing off his feathers for us!

We love having so many beautiful and unique cultural destinations so close to our home!

*I don't have the GPS coordinates, but if you take the road that the Aeon Mall is on, and follow it all the way past the street that the obstacle course park is on, it will be a little further up (about a mile) on the left.  You can't miss the giant pagoda!

Chureito Pagoda

Seeing Mt. Fuji is always a treat, especially when the view is perfectly framed with the cutest little red pagoda!  The Chureito Pagoda was built in the 60s as a peace memorial for all the Japanese fallen soldiers that fought in the wars past.  

There are about 400 stairs leading up to the pagoda from the shrine, and trust me when I say that I felt every single one of them!  William, on the other hand, had endless amounts of energy and literally bounded up them!  That kid was cracking me up.  

But, if the stairs aren't enough to take your breath away, the view of Mt. Fuji surely will!

This trip was great for the kids; they were able to get their energy out and is was a fairly quick visit (although there are hiking paths that lead up to the top of the mountain if you're up for a much longer day!).  

GPS Coordinates: 35.49969, 138.80025