We visited Zenkoji yesterday morning, and then did a hike up a hill near the city to see a reconstructed castle with a great view of Nagano.
Zenkoji, Nagano’s 1300-year-old temple, is believed to house the first image of Buddha to come to Japan. At the temple, there is a subterranean passageway containing “the key to paradise.” In order to find this key (which is more like a heavy door handle), one needs to join a line of pilgrims groping their way through the pitch-dark passageway. This is definitely an attraction that wouldn’t survive liability laws in the U.S.