In the suburbs about twenty minutes on the train west of Shizuoka city, Fujieda flourished during the Edo era (17th to 19th centuries) as a post town on the Tokaido highway between Edo, now Tokyo, and Kyoto. It's quieter now, but the legacy of its former status is an abundance of historical sights.
One of these is Shojo-ji, a small but charming Buddhist temple, one of a number dotted along the old Tokaido route. It's not an outstanding example of its kind, but there are a number of points of interest here which make it worth popping in.
Under the roof of the gate there are a lot of attractive wooden carvings: dragons, flowers, strange flying rabbits and other mythical creatures. There are more dragons carved in stone in the temple grounds, as well as a mass of ancient grave markers, and an equally ancient historical pine tree, the Hongan-no-matsu. This was donated to the temple by the Lord of Tanaka Castle, now a runi which you can visit nearby.
