Kurama-dera Cable


The Kurama-dera Cable is a funicular line operated by Kurama-dera, a famous Buddhist temple in Mount Kurama, Sakyō, Kyoto, Japan. The line is officially called Mount Kurama Cable Railway.

Basic data

The funicular line serves for the visitors to Kurama-dera temple built in 770. As the temple resides in the heart of the Mount Kurama, it takes roughly 30 minutes on foot from the main gate while the funicular line links the same route in just 2 minutes. The temple, however, recommends its visitors not to use the funicular, but to walk on foot if possible to feel stronger impressions.
As a legally recognized Japanese railway line, this is the only one operated by a religious institution, as well as the only one that is nominally free of charge. This is also the shortest line in the country, if considered as a railway. The line has only single car, counterbalanced by a weight. The line opened on January 1, 1957, as an ordinary iron-wheeled funicular with two cars, gauge, later changed in 1996 as the current rubber-tired system with gauge. The current car is nicknamed Ushiwaka-gō III, after Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who was put and got training in the temple.
As of March 2015, the fare to ride was 200 yen.

Stations