Yet the must-see status of prestigious temples such as Ginkakuji and Kinkakuji has left many of the city's smaller gems virtually unknown to the public. Kyoto is home to hundreds of small temples that are not museums of Buddhism and do not charge entrance fees, but rather exist as living temples.

At their best, small temples serve as vibrant nodes of community life. Besides services for ancestors, funerals and counseling for the danka, or congregation of contributing households, that sustains them, some of these small temples are actively involved in both civic affairs and the contemporary artistic life of the city.

Take Honenin temple, for example, named after the priest Honen Shonin (1133-1212), who broke away from the austere orientation of medieval Buddhism on Mt. Hiei straddling Kyoto and Shiga prefectures to make the faith accessible to common people. This temple stands on the site where Honen and his two disciples, Anraku and Juren, erected an image of Amida Buddha, to whom they performed daily services. By the beginning of the 20th century, Honenin had become a family-run temple, and after World War II it became an independent religious corporation distinct from the Jodoshu sect from which it originated.

In recent years, the temple established the nearby Mori no Senta (Friends of the Forest Center), which is devoted to the study and preservation of nature. Guest speakers there have delivered lessons on topics from mushroom behavior to bear hunting.

The center, set in the mountains of Kyoto's Sakyo Ward, also offers guided nature hikes up the 466-meter Mt. Daimonji. At the end of the summer Bon Festival, the character "dai," meaning "great," is depicted in fire on the mountainside. It is believed the fire's light can guide ancestor's back to the spirit world.

The broad path up the mountain (also a favorite of joggers) offers spectacular views of Kyoto, and a pleasant clearing with log benches for a rest before the hike down.

Honenin temple's art gallery, housed in the Kodo lecture hall, hosts weekly exhibitions and the main hall holds dozens of concerts throughout the year.

All this activity might give the impression of a rupture in Buddhist tranquillity, but the temple compound--with its raked-gravel platforms that change with the seasons--maintains the peaceful allure that touched novelist Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965). He asked to be buried at Honenin temple, and his grave can be found in the cemetery there.

Two main factors are responsible for Honenin temple's success: Shinsho Kajita, the renaissance man who is its head priest, and the members of the danka, who are attracted by the way Kajita weaves Buddhism, environmentalism and art into a unified vision.

A 10-minute walk from Honenin temple is Anrakuji, another family-run living temple, which has a compelling but tragic history. The priest Honen had Anrakuji built to honor Anraku and Juren, the chief disciples who perpetuated his teachings of salvation for all.

The disciples' charisma attracted two princesses in the court of Emperor Gotoba (1180-1239). The two women left the palace to become nuns, and rumors that circulated about the foursome enraged the emperor, who had Honen exiled and his two disciples beheaded. The two nuns, Matsumushi and Suzumushi, took their own lives.

The graves of all four are not far from Cafe Momiji, a restaurant and event space that the temple opened last year with a glamorous flamenco performance.

Anrakuji temple, headed by the 33rd-generation priest Shojun Ito, also sponsors exhibitions in its nearby Gallery Hana-iro, working closely with nonprofit organizations on projects that foster social justice. And on the 25th of each month, Anrakuji temple sponsors a market for locally produced vegetables.

Anrakuji and Honenin temples are both located just off Tetsugaku no Michi (Philosopher's Path), a 1.8-kilometer tree-lined promenade along Lake Biwa Canal that has Ginkakuji temple at one end and Nanzenji temple at the other.

You can stop in for light refreshments at Cafe Terrazza, located between Anrakuji and Honenin temples on the mountain side of the canal. It's popular for its shady veranda seating and dog-friendly policy. As the days get cooler, a heartier meal can be found next door at Kisaki Yudofu restaurant. The tables are equipped with stoves for nabe hotpot dishes with vegetables and either meat or tofu in a rich broth.

Not all small temples thrive as easily as Honenin and Anrakuji. Yasuo Sakakibara took over his family's Jodoshu temple in the Nishijin district of Kyoto after his father's death 38 years ago. Although Sakakibara was a full-time professor of economics at Christian-run Doshisha University at the time, he felt his duty as a son required that he not abandon the temple's congregation of 100 families.

Over time, many of the temple's followers had moved away, some to the suburbs of Kyoto and some as far away as Osaka and Tokyo. The temple had become a place where a person could not possibly make a living solely as a priest. His father had survived as a jack-of-all-trades--cleaner, gardener, repairman and priest--but Sakakibara had to hire different people for each of these roles, continuing only the spiritual duties himself. He also kept teaching at the university.

In the summer, he would visit all the homes of the danka to pray at the ancestral tablets of their Buddhist altars, and he would conduct six to eight funerals a year.

"What happened was a cross-subsidization between religions," he said. "I worked at a Christian university to get money to support a Buddhist temple."

After working two full-time jobs for 25 years, Sakakibara was exhausted, but he had no sons and his daughters had no interest in the temple nor in marrying temple priests. Eventually, Sakakibara sought a successor from outside his family, trained him, and retired from the temple.

Large Kyoto temples, such as Chionin temple--the head temple of Jodoshu Buddhism--have no danka and are run like large companies. The 150 priests who work at Chionin receive a salary from the temple.

The majority of the salaried priests have their own small temples elsewhere, but the support of their danka alone is not enough. They use their Chionin salaries to subsidize their own small temples, much like Sakakibara used his salary from the university to sustain his temple.

The large, prestigious temples of Kyoto will always draw crowds, but the priests at the many small temples have to hone their entrepreneurial instincts and find ways to connect to the modern world in Buddhist terms. These small, innovative and unique temples are well worth discovering.

Whelan is a cultural anthropologist and author

who resides in Kyoto.

Information

-- Honenin temple

(075) 771-2420. Temple interior is open to public in Nov. 1-7 and April 1-7. www.honen-in.jp

-- Friends of the Forest Center

(075) 752-4582 www4.ocn.ne.jp/~moricent

-- Anrakuji temple

(075) 771-5360

http://anrakuji-kyoto.com

-- Cafe Terrazza

(075) 751-7931