# Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel

- [Daitoku-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/daitoku-ji): Kyoto, Temple. A vast Rinzai Zen temple complex in northern Kyoto with over 20 sub-temples, many featuring exceptional dry landscape rock gardens and historic tea rooms.
- [Hiraizumi](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/hiraizumi): Iwate, Temple. In the 12th century Hiraizumi was the political and cultural centre of northern Japan, and two of its temples, Chuson-ji and Motsu-ji, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing. Chuson-ji's Konjikido (Golden Hall), covered entirely in gold leaf, is a masterpiece of Pure Land Buddhist art. Motsu-ji's Pure Land garden represents the idealised Buddhist paradise on earth.
- [Kennin-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/kennin-ji): Kyoto, Temple. Kyoto's oldest Zen temple. Founded 1202 by Eisai, who brought Zen and tea to Japan. Twin Dragons ceiling painting, Fujin-Raijin screen (reproduction; originals in Kyoto National Museum).
- [Otagi Nenbutsu-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/otagi-nenbutsu-ji): Kyoto, Temple. A hillside temple at the far end of Arashiyama covered in 1,200 stone rakan carved by ordinary visitors in the 1980s. Closed on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the bus runs only about once an hour.
- [Jison-in](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/jison-in): Wakayama, Temple. A small Shingon temple by the Kinokawa river where, by tradition, Kukai's mother lived out her life because women were barred from Koyasan. Women still leave breast-shaped ema here. The 180th stone of the Koyasan Choishi-michi stands on the steps up to Niu Kanshofu Shrine just above it, and the temple is one of the component parts of the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage property. Free; 20 minutes on foot from Kudoyama Station.
- [Eikan-do](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/eikan-do): Kyoto, Temple. A Higashiyama temple known as Momiji no Eikan-do for its roughly 3,000 maples, with an Amida Buddha that looks back over its left shoulder. Busy and expensive at the November peak, quiet the rest of the year.
- [Zenko-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/zenko-ji): Nagano, Temple. One of Japan's most important and popular temples, home to the first Buddhist statue ever brought to Japan.
- [Ishite-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/ishite-ji): Ehime, Temple. Temple #51 of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage and the most visited temple on the entire route, located a short walk from Dogo Onsen.
- [Todai-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/todai-ji): Nara, Temple. A UNESCO World Heritage temple housing the world's largest bronze Buddha statue inside the largest wooden building in the world.
- [Seiganto-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/seiganto-ji): Wakayama, Temple. The Tendai temple beside Kumano Nachi Taisha and the first stop of the Saikoku 33 Kannon pilgrimage, whose vermilion three-storied pagoda frames Nachi Falls in the most famous view in Kumano.
- [Tenryu-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/tenryu-ji): Kyoto, Temple. World Heritage Site, head temple of the Tenryu branch of Rinzai Zen. The Sogenchi garden uses the Arashiyama mountains as borrowed scenery.
- [Yamadera](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/yamadera): Yamagata, Temple. A mountain temple with over 1,000 stone steps leading to panoramic views, Yamadera inspired Matsuo Basho's famous haiku about the silence of cicadas.
- [Chion-in](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/chion-in): Kyoto, Temple. The head temple of Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhism, featuring Japan's largest temple gate at 24 meters high and a colossal main hall that seats thousands.
- [Chusonji Temple](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/chusonji-temple): Iwate, Temple. A UNESCO World Heritage temple complex featuring the stunning Konjikido, a hall covered entirely in gold leaf.
- [Kamakura Daibutsu (Kotoku-in)](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/kotoku-in): Kanagawa, Temple. The Great Buddha of Kamakura. 13.35 meters tall, 121 tons, cast in 1252. The original temple hall washed away in a 1498 tsunami so it sits outdoors. You can go inside it.

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Source: [Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations?destination_type=temple&page=2)
Last updated: 2026-11-12