# Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel - [Katsuoji Temple](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/katsuoji-temple): Osaka, Temple. Set in the forested mountains above Minoo, this 1,300-year-old Shingon temple has drawn seekers of success for centuries. Known as the Temple of Victory, Katsuoji attracts those hoping for triumph in business, academics, sports, and life's challenges. The grounds are carpeted with thousands of small daruma dolls, offerings from visitors whose wishes came true. The autumn illumination lights up the mountainside maples, though the temple's remote location keeps crowds manageable. - [Kinkaku-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/kinkaku-ji): Kyoto, Temple. Kyoto's golden icon, where a pavilion sheathed in real gold leaf floats above its mirror-still pond, creating one of Japan's most photographed reflections. - [Byodo-in](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/byodo-in): Kyoto, Temple. A UNESCO World Heritage temple famous for its Phoenix Hall, depicted on the Japanese 10-yen coin. - [Kimpusen-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/kimpusen-ji): Nara, Temple. The head temple of Kimpusen Shugen Honshu, a Shugendo school, halfway up Mount Yoshino. Its main hall, the Zao-do, is a 34-metre wooden building from about 1592 that holds three blue Zao Gongen statues, the central one over 7 metres tall. They are hidden buddhas, shown only during set weeks in spring and autumn; the rest of the year you pay to look at closed doors. - [Tochoji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/tochoji): Fukuoka, Temple. A Shingon temple in Hakata that houses the Fukuoka Daibutsu, a large seated wooden Buddha, along with a five-story pagoda. - [Daikaku-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/daikaku-ji): Kyoto, Temple. A former imperial palace turned Shingon temple, famous for Osawa Pond, Japan's oldest artificial garden lake. The sprawling grounds and elegant corridors connect multiple halls. Especially beautiful during autumn foliage and the harvest moon viewing. - [Chikurinji Temple](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/chikurinji-temple): Kochi, Temple. Temple 31 of the Shikoku pilgrimage, on the wooded hill of Godaisan above Kochi city, founded in 724 by the monk Gyoki after Emperor Shomu dreamed of Mount Wutai in China and ordered a Japanese equivalent built. The hill was named for that dream. It is one of the better temples on the circuit, and busier with day visitors than with pilgrims. The five-storey pagoda dates from 1980 and looks older than it is among the cedars. The garden behind the main hall is attributed to Muso Soseki and is a designated national site of scenic beauty: a dry landscape on one side, a pond circuit on the other, and no crowd on either. The treasure hall is the reason to pay. Seventeen Buddhist statues from the Heian and Kamakura periods are displayed in a dim modern room, all of them Important Cultural Properties, and they are shown close enough that you can see the tool marks. The temple also has a song attached to it. Yosakoi Bushi, the Kochi folk tune, tells of a monk from here who was caught buying a hairpin for a young woman, a small scandal that grew into a song and eventually into the Yosakoi festival that fills Kochi every August and has been copied by cities all over Japan. Next door on the same hill is the Makino Botanical Garden, dedicated to Makino Tomitaro, the self-taught botanist who named over 1,500 Japanese plants and became a household name again after a 2023 television drama about him. It is excellent and needs two hours of its own. Buses run from Kochi station in about half an hour. Entry to the garden and treasure hall is around 400 yen. - [Engaku-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/engaku-ji): Kanagawa, Temple. Ranked second of Kamakura's Five Great Zen Temples, founded in 1282 to honor soldiers from the Mongol invasions, with a National Treasure reliquary hall. - [Enryakuji Temple](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/enryakuji-temple): Shiga, Temple. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and headquarters of Tendai Buddhism, Enryakuji Temple sprawls across the summit of Mount Hiei with over 1,200 years of history. - [Myokensan (Nose Myokensan)](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/myokensan-nose-myokensan): Osaka, Temple. Nose Myokensan is a Nichiren-sect temple at the 660-metre summit of Mount Myoken, on the border between Osaka and Hyogo prefectures. A branch hall of Tokyo's Shinnyo-ji, it enshrines Myoken Bosatsu, the deity of the North Star and Big Dipper. The grounds include the Seirei worship hall, a glass-and-steel building designed by architect Shin Takamatsu in 1998, and offer views over the Osaka plain that are popular during the autumn foliage. - [Gotanjoji Temple](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/gotanjoji-temple): Fukui, Temple. A working Soto Zen training temple in the hills of Echizen City that became famous as the cat temple, home to around thirty rescued cats that roam the grounds freely, alongside a cat Buddha statue, cat fortune slips and a cat-themed temple seal. - [Anraku-ji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/anraku-ji): Kyoto, Temple. A small Pure Land temple behind a thatched gate, a few minutes off the Philosopher's Path, founded in memory of the monks Juren and Anraku, executed in 1207. It opens only on announced days in spring and autumn and on 25 July for its pumpkin memorial; entry is 500 yen. - [Yoshiminedera Temple](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/yoshiminedera-temple): Kyoto, Temple. Yoshiminedera spreads across Kyoto’s western hills, with terraced temple paths, wide city views and the remarkable spreading Yuryu pine. Seasonal flowers reward the climb, but reaching this mountain temple now requires more planning than older bus guides suggest. - [Myoryuji (Ninja Temple)](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/myoryuji-ninja-temple): Ishikawa, Temple. A fascinating temple built with hidden staircases, trap doors, and secret passages as defensive measures against potential attacks on the Maeda clan. - [Saihoji (Kokedera)](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/saihoji-kokedera): Kyoto, Temple. A World Heritage Zen temple blanketed in over 120 varieties of moss, creating an ethereal green landscape that requires advance reservation to visit. Page 3 of 9. Previous page: https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations.md?destination_type=temple&page=2 Next page: https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations.md?destination_type=temple&page=4 --- Source: [Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations?destination_type=temple&page=3) Last updated: 2026-11-12