Temples in Japan | Hey Japan!

Temple

Eiheiji Temple

One of the two head temples of Soto Zen, founded in 1244 in the mountains of Fukui and still a working monastery of about 150 monks.

Eiheiji · Fukui

Temple

Yamadera (Risshakuji)

A Tendai temple of 860 built up a rock face in Yamagata, its halls reached by a stone stairway, and the place of Basho's poem about cicadas.

Yamagata

Temple

Daihoji Temple

The forty-fourth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and its halfway point, standing among old trees at 579 metres in the mountains of Ehime.

Kumakogen · Ehime

Temple

Eiheiji Temple

One of the two head temples of Soto Zen, founded in 1244 in the mountains of Fukui and still a working monastery of about 150 monks.

Eiheiji · Fukui

Temple

Yamadera (Risshakuji)

A Tendai temple of 860 built up a rock face in Yamagata, its halls reached by a stone stairway, and the place of Basho's poem about cicadas.

Yamagata

Temple

Daihoji Temple

The forty-fourth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and its halfway point, standing among old trees at 579 metres in the mountains of Ehime.

Kumakogen · Ehime

Temple

Nishiyama Koryuji

A mountain temple in Saijo, Ehime, founded in 642, reached by a long approach under maples, with a main hall that is an Important Cultural Property.

Saijo · Ehime

Temple

Iwayaji Temple

The forty-fifth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage, built against cliffs in the mountains of Ehime, where the mountain itself is the object of worship.

Kumakogen · Ehime

Temple

Jofukuji

A temple at Emukae in Sasebo where the maples of the garden are shown upside down, reflected in a panel set into the floor of the hall.

Sasebo · Nagasaki

Temple

Sofukuji Temple

A Chinese temple in Nagasaki founded in 1629 by merchants from Fujian, with two buildings that are National Treasures.

Nagasaki

Temple

Kofukuji Temple

The first Chinese temple built in Nagasaki, founded in 1620, and the place where the Obaku school of Zen began in Japan.

Nagasaki

Temple

Shinshoji Zen Temple

A Rinzai Zen temple at Fukuyama with tea houses, moved historic halls, gardens, and one of the largest collections of Hakuin's Zen painting.

Fukuyama · Hiroshima

Temple

Fukuzenji Temple (Taichoro)

The guest hall of a Shingon temple at Tomonoura, built around 1690, whose view over the Seto Inland Sea a Korean envoy called the finest in Japan.

Fukuyama · Hiroshima

Temple

Kongobu-ji (Koyasan)

Mount Koya is a sacred temple complex where the entire mountain is treated as one unified holy domain dedicated to Shingon Esoteric Buddhism.

Koya · Wakayama

Temple

Kawasaki Daishi Heikenji Temple

A prominent Shingon Buddhist temple renowned for its spiritual power to dispel misfortune and grant various blessings to visitors.

Kawasaki · Kanagawa

Historic Site

Asuka-Fujiwara

The Nara-Prefecture ruins where Japan's first centralised state took shape, newly inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2026.

Kashihara · Nara

Temple

Iinuma Kannon

A temple at the eastern edge of Kanto, founded around an image of Kannon that fishermen are said to have drawn from the sea one glowing night in 728.

Choshi · Chiba

Temple

Togakuin

A Tendai temple in the Kawasaki hills, known as the "azalea temple" for the 2,000 shrubs that colour its slopes each spring, and for its healing prayers.

Kawasaki · Kanagawa

Temple

Myorakuji Temple

A Tendai temple in the Nagao Hills of Kawasaki, known as the "hydrangea temple" for the 1,000 shrubs that fill its grounds each June, with a June festival.

Kawasaki · Kanagawa

Temple

Naritasan Shinshoji

Naritasan Shinshoji in Narita, Chiba, is a head temple of Shingon Buddhism, centred on a Fudo Myoo image attributed to Kukai and a goma fire ritual unbroken for 1,080 years.

Narita · Chiba

Temple

Tsukiji Hongwanji

Tsukiji Hongwanji is a striking Shin Buddhist temple in central Tokyo, blending Indian-inspired architecture, Silk Road motifs, and animal carvings by Ito Chuta.

Tokyo

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