Tachibanadera, situated in Nara prefecture’s Asuka village, is a temple of the Buddhist Tendai sect. It is said to have been built on the site of Prince Shotoku’s birthplace, but its actual construction date is unknown.
The temple is also associated with the legendary figure Tajimamori, who is said to have been sent on a mission by Emperor Suinin during the first century CE to find a magical fruit. When he returned with branches from a strange fruit tree ten years later, Tajimamori found that the emperor had already died, and he was heartbroken. The story says that he gave half the branches to the emperor’s widow, and placed the other half on Suinin’s tomb before he himself died of grief. The fruit tree was said to have been tachibana, or ‘mandarin orange’, and it’s from this that Tachibanadera gets its name.
These fruit trees can still be seen around the temple gardens.
