Climb the stone walkway, stippled with fallen red camellia blossoms, that leads to Kyoto's Honen-in Temple, past a mossy thatched gate and raised platforms of sand combed in tight patterns of waves and chrysanthemums, and you enter a hushed and otherworldly space at the foot of Mount Daimonji.
Honen-in's most famous resident is novelist Junichiro Tanizaki, whose ashes reside in the small cemetery. Its second-best-known resident, however, is head monk Shinsho Kajita, 56, whose shaven head, arching brows and constant smile presents a rounded and amiable visual harmony.
In a country where the main function of Buddhist priests is seen as officiating at funeral rites or maintaining family burial rites, Kajita has opened his temple's doors wide to the public.