Going back to the topic of my last year's trip, I'm going to show you a mountain temple and a train in Nara Prefecture today.
Hasedera is an old Buddhist temple located in the mountains of Sakurai City. It's said to be founded in the 7th century, but uncertain. At least, we can see an old copper casting, which was made in 686 or 698, in the temple. The highlight of Hasedera is not only its historical relics but also its nature. When I visited there, the maple leaves had just started turning red. It went well with the halls. The mountain around the temple had also started glowing. It was feeling like autumn more and more.
To visit this mountain temple, the nearest railway station is Hasedera on the Kintetsu-Osaka line. Hasedera station is located on a route passing through a steep mountain named Aoyama (Blue Mountain). Kintetsu has been developing powerful trains to run through Aoyama for long time. One of the outcomes is the EMU 2400 series commissioned in 1966. It has 155kW DC motors, and enabled to decrease numbers of motorcars per train-set. Furthermore, the 2400 series has "1M system". One motorcar has all required electric devices on the car. It's not necessary to form a pair with the other motorcars. As a result, it drastically enhanced the operational flexibility. The 2400 series is now over 50 years of age, but still active.
I learnt the histories of both the mountain temple and the train in Nara Prefecture.
