Tucked quietly into a residential corner of Nara City, Obitoke-dera has welcomed visitors in prayer for safe childbirth since the Heian era, without interruption.

On a summer morning, when the lattice doors of the main hall are opened, countless ema plaques line the walls inside — words hoping for a child not yet born, words of gratitude for a child already here. Each one carries the story of a different family.

In the temple grounds, crepe myrtle blossoms take on a faint pink under the summer sun, and a single visitor slowly brings their hands together in prayer. Their quiet profile seems, somehow, to be looking back over the road that brought them here.