Jison-in
Kukai's Mother's Temple at the Foot of Koyasan, Where the Choishi-michi Begins
A small Shingon temple by the Kinokawa river where, by tradition, Kukai's mother lived out her li...
Yata-dera
A Jizo Temple in the Hills West of Yamato-Koriyama, Under 10,000 Hydrangeas in June
Properly Kongosen-ji, a temple halfway up Yatasan in the Yata hills west of Yamato-Koriyama, know...
Daisho-in
Prayer Wheels and Rows of Rakan Statues at the Foot of Mount Misen
Miyajima's oldest temple, at the foot of Mount Misen, traced by tradition to Kukai in 806. Stone ...
Kawasaki Daishi
The Bad-Luck Temple Where Candy Makers Chop to a Drumbeat
Heiken-ji, founded in 1128 and known as Kawasaki Daishi, is a head temple of Chisan Shingon Buddh...
Asuka-dera
The Asuka Daibutsu, Dated by the Temple to 609 and Called by It Japan's Oldest Buddha Statue, Photos Allowed
A small hall in the fields of Asuka on the site of the temple Soga no Umako began in 588. Inside ...
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...
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...
Matsuo-dera
A Hilltop Temple West of Yamato-Koriyama That Calls Itself Japan's Oldest for Warding Off Bad Luck
A Shingon temple on Mount Matsuo at the south end of the Yata hills, which by its own account was...
Rakan-ji Gohyaku Rakan
Five Hundred Stone Arhats in Rock-Cut Caves, Carved for the Silver Miners of Iwami Ginzan
Two caves cut into a rock face across the stream from Rakan-ji in Omori, each holding 250 small s...
Soji-ji
A 164-Meter Corridor Wiped by Hand, Five Minutes from Tsurumi
One of the two head temples of Soto Zen, founded in 1321 on the Noto Peninsula and moved to Tsuru...
Kairyuo-ji
A Four-Metre Five-Storey Pagoda Kept Indoors Since the Nara Period, Next Door to Hokke-ji
A small temple in the north-east corner of what was Empress Komyo's palace, a couple of minutes f...
Ushiku Daibutsu
A monumental bronze Amida Buddha with interior worship spaces and observation windows, set in gro...
Kiyoshikojin Seicho-ji Temple
A climbing shopping street leads to Kiyoshikojin, where Buddhist worship meets devotion to the gu...
Nakayamadera Temple
A vivid blue five-story pagoda rises above Nakayamadera, a temple closely associated with prayers...
Yoshiminedera Temple
Yoshiminedera spreads across Kyoto’s western hills, with terraced temple paths, wide city views a...