Photo: Saigen Jiro / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Gangoji
Japan's Oldest Temple with 1,400-Year-Old Roof Tiles
A World Heritage temple and one of Japan's oldest, where remarkably some original roof tiles from...
© 663highland / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Kofuku-ji
Nara's Five-Story Pagoda and National Treasure Hall
World Heritage temple with Japan's second-tallest wooden pagoda (50m). The National Treasure Hall...
© 663highland / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)
Horyu-ji
The World's Oldest Wooden Buildings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important temples in Japan, Horyu-ji contains th...
Photo: Mont Blank rich / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Todai-ji
Todai-ji Temple
A UNESCO World Heritage temple housing the world's largest bronze Buddha statue inside the larges...
Toshodai-ji
Ganjin's Legacy and the Finest Nara-Period Architecture
A World Heritage temple founded in 759 by the Chinese monk Ganjin, whose Golden Hall is widely re...
Yakushi-ji
Ancient Temple of Healing with the Frozen Music Pagoda
A World Heritage temple and one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara, celebrated for its elegant Ea...
Muroji
Women's Koya and Japan's Smallest Outdoor Pagoda
Known as Women's Koya for welcoming female worshippers when Mount Koya banned them, this mountain...
Tsubosakadera
Temple of Large Stone Buddhas Linked to Eye Ailments
A Shingon temple in Takatori, the sixth stop of the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage, known for a Kannon...
Hasedera
Mountain Temple Famous for Peonies
The head temple of the Shingon Buzan school, set on a hillside in Sakurai and known for its cover...
Hannya-ji
The Cosmos Temple on the Old Kyoto Road, with a Kamakura Stone Pagoda in the Middle
A temple on the hill north of Todai-ji, known in Nara as the cosmos temple: about 150,000 cosmos ...
Hozan-ji
Ikoma Shoten, a Temple Under a Cliff Reached by Japan's Oldest Cable Car
A working temple of prayer halfway up Mount Ikoma, where people come to ask Kangiten, known local...
Hokki-ji
Japan's Oldest Three-Storey Pagoda, Out in the Fields North-East of Horyu-ji
A small temple among fields on the north-east edge of Ikaruga. Its three-storey pagoda, finished ...
Jiko-in
A Tea Master's Temple Where the Entry Fee Buys a Bowl of Matcha and a View over the Yamato Basin
A small Zen temple in Yamato-Koriyama built in 1663 by the tea master and local lord Katagiri Sek...
Taima-dera
Two Ancient Pagodas Under Mount Nijo and the Temple of the Taima Mandala
A temple at the foot of Mount Nijo in Katsuragi, and the only one in Japan where both of its anci...
Chogosonshi-ji
The Tiger Temple of Mount Shigi, Home Ground of Bishamonten and the Shigisan Engi Scrolls
A sprawling temple on Mount Shigi in Heguri, given over to Bishamonten and to tigers: legend says...