Country guide
Japan
Japan's sacred geography layers Shinto shrine landscapes, Buddhist temple networks, mountain ascetic practice, island pilgrimage, and urban devotional sites.
345 sacred sites across 106 regions. Use the tradition and site-type filters to narrow in.
Atlas summary
Japan sacred sites overview
Japan sacred sites include major Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, Kannon pilgrimage circuits, sacred mountains, temple towns, and quiet local places shaped by seasonal ritual.
Use the page to compare regional clusters and traditions, then move into route-linked sites and individual pages for coordinates, context, and nearby sacred stops.
| Coverage | 345 sacred sites across 106 regions. |
|---|---|
| Regional clusters | |
| Traditions | |
| Site types | |
| UNESCO heritage | 5 UNESCO-tagged sites in this country guide. |
Showing 1-48 of 345 sites in this country guide
Akechi-ji (明智寺)
Yokoze, Japan
Akechi-ji is the ninth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....
Akita Seibo no Sono
Yuzawadai, Yuzawadai, Akita Prefecture, Japan
In the hills of Yuzawadai outside Akita City, the Institute of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist preserves a wooden statue of Mary that,...
Akyū Ruins
Hara, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Six thousand years ago, the Jomon people gathered here to tend sacred fires beneath the gaze of Mount Tateshina....
Amanoiwato Shrine
Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
In a forested gorge in Kyushu's Takachiho region, pilgrims have gathered for centuries at the cave where Amaterasu, the sun goddess and ancestress of Japan's Imperial...
An'yō-in (安養院)
Kamakura, Japan
An'yō-in is the third station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho — a small Jōdo-shū temple in Kamakura founded as Hōjō Masako's grief-prayer for her husband Minamoto no Yoritomo,...
Anao-ji (穴太寺)
Kameoka, Kameoka, Kyoto, Japan
Anao-ji is station 21 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Kyoto dedicated to Shō Kannon....
Anko-ji
Japan
Ankō-ji is an independent Tendai temple founded in 775 CE by Prince Kaisei on a wooded hillside north of Takatsuki....
Anraku-ji (安楽寺)
Kamiita, Kamiita, Tokushima, Japan
Anraku-ji is Temple 6 of the Shikoku 88, in Kamiita, Tokushima. Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of Healing, presides here, and Anraku-ji is the only fudasho with its own onsen....
Anraku-ji (安楽寺)
Yoshimi, Japan
Anraku-ji, the Yoshimi Kannon, is the eleventh station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage....
Asuka-dera
Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan
In a quiet valley surrounded by rice fields, Japan's oldest surviving Buddha statue has watched from the same location for over 1,400 years....
Atago Shrine (Atago Jinja)
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Atago Shrine crowns Mount Atago at 924 meters, the highest point surrounding Kyoto....
Atsuta Shrine
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Atsuta Shrine houses Kusanagi-no-tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword—one of three sacred objects that legitimize Japan's Imperial throne....
Awa Kokubun-ji (阿波国分寺)
Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan
Awa Kokubun-ji is the official kokubunji—provincial Buddhist temple—of Awa Province, founded by imperial edict of Emperor Shōmu in 741 to pray for the welfare of the...
Beppu
Beppu, Oita Prefecture, Japan
The Hells of Beppu have inspired awe and terror for over a millennium. These boiling, steaming pools of vivid color gave physical form to Buddhist visions of the suffering...
Bodai-ji (菩提寺)
Sanda, Sanda, Hyōgo, Japan
Bodai-ji is station bangai-bodai-ji on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Kazan-in branch temple in Hyogo dedicated to Kannon....
Boku'un-ji (卜雲寺)
Yokoze, Japan
Boku'un-ji is the sixth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....
Butsumoku-ji (佛木寺)
Uwajima, Uwajima, Ehime, Japan
Butsumoku-ji is the forty-second temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and one of its most distinctive: a Shingon temple where the principal image was carved from a camphor...
Buttsū-ji
Mihara, Japan
Buttsū-ji — Omoto-san Buttsū-ji — is the head temple (daihonzan) of the Buttsū-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, founded in 1397 by Kobayakawa Haruhira and Zen master Gucchū Shūkyū...
Byōdō-ji (平等寺)
Anan, Anan, Tokushima, Japan
Byōdō-ji, Temple 22 of the Shikoku 88, takes its name from Kūkai's vow that all illness be healed equally....
Chiba-dera
Chiba, Japan
Chiba-dera — also read Senyō-ji — is the 29th station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho and Chiba City's oldest temple....
Chikurin-ji (竹林寺)
Kōchi, Kōchi, Kōchi, Japan
Chikurin-ji crowns Mt. Godaisan above Kōchi City — a Japanese Mañjuśrī mountain modelled on China's Mt....
Chōhō-ji (Rokkaku-dō) (頂法寺)
Nakagyo-ku, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Chōhō-ji (Rokkaku-dō) is station 18 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism, Ikenobō / ikebana lineage temple in Kyoto dedicated to Nyoirin Kannon....
Chōkoku-ji (Iiyama Kannon)
Atsugi, Japan
Iiyama Kannon — the local name for Chōkoku-ji on the slopes of Mount Hakusan in Atsugi — has drawn pilgrims for some thirteen centuries....
Chōkoku-ji (Shiraiwa Kannon)
Takasaki, Japan
Chōkoku-ji at Shiraiwa, the Shiraiwa Kannon, is the fifteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage and one of the few remaining Shugendō-affiliated temples on the...
Chōmei-ji (長命寺)
Ōmihachiman, Ōmihachiman, Shiga, Japan
Chōmei-ji is station 31 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Shiga dedicated to Senju Kannon Jūichimen Kannon Shō Kannon....
Chōsen-in (長泉院)
Chichibu, Japan
Chōsen-in — Sasado-san Chōsen-in — is the 29th station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Sōtō Zen temple in the Urayama River valley of Chichibu, Saitama....
Chūzen-ji ((日光山))
Nikkō, Japan
Chūzen-ji, station 18 of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, sits on the eastern shore of Lake Chūzenji at 1,269 meters, beneath sacred Mount Nantai....
Daien-ji (大渕寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Daien-ji — Ryūga-zan Daien-ji — is the 27th station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Sōtō Zen temple in the Kagemori valley of Chichibu, Saitama....
Daihō-ji (大宝寺)
Kumakōgen, Kumakōgen, Ehime, Japan
Daihō-ji is the forty-fourth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and its symbolic midpoint, the Nakafudasho....
Daihonzan Eiheiji (Eihei Temple)
Eiheiji Town, Fukui Prefecture, Japan
Hidden in the cedar forests of Fukui Prefecture, Eiheiji stands as one of the two head temples of Soto Zen Buddhism....
Daihōon-ji
Japan
Daihōon-ji, known popularly as Senbon Shakadō, holds Kyoto's oldest surviving wooden building inside the city limits — a 1227 National Treasure main hall that survived the...
Daiji-ji (大慈寺)
Yokoze, Japan
Daiji-ji, the tenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Sōtō Zen temple founded in 1490 in the Yokoze hills....
Daikō-ji (大興寺)
Mitoyo, Mitoyo, Kagawa, Japan
Daikō-ji, also known as Komatsuoji, sits in farmland on a low hill in Mitoyo, Kagawa....
Dainichi-ji (大日寺)
Itano, Itano, Tokushima, Japan
Dainichi-ji is Temple 4 of the Shikoku 88, in Itano, Tokushima. It enshrines Dainichi Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha at the center of Shingon esotericism....
Dainichi-ji (大日寺)
Kōnan, Kōnan, Kōchi, Japan
Dainichi-ji enshrines Dainichi Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha at the centre of Shingon doctrine, in a wooded precinct in rural Kōnan....
Dainichi-ji (大日寺)
Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan
Dainichi-ji stands directly across the road from Awa Ichinomiya Shrine, the highest-ranked Shintō shrine of Awa Province....
Daisen-ji
Daisen, Japan
Daisen-ji, the 29th station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, sits high on Mt. Daisen — at 1,729 meters the highest peak in the Chūgoku region....
Daiun-in
Tottori, Japan
Daiun-in in Tottori, the 33rd and final station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, is the route's manzanji — the place where pilgrim journeys complete....
Dewa Shrine and Mt. Haguro
Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Mount Haguro rises in Yamagata as the gateway to the Three Mountains of Dewa - Japan's most powerful journey of spiritual death and rebirth....
Dōji-dō (童子堂)
Chichibu, Japan
Dōji-dō is the twenty-second station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — literally 'Children's Hall,' a Shingon Buzan-ha temple where Kannon has been invoked for...
Dōjō-ji
Japan
Dōjō-ji is the oldest documented temple in Wakayama Prefecture, founded in 701 CE by the monk Gien at Emperor Monmu's command....
Dōryū-ji (道隆寺)
Tadotsu, Tadotsu, Kagawa, Japan
Temple 77 Dōryū-ji in Tadotsu is known on the Shikoku route as the Eye-Healing Yakushi (me-naoshi Yakushi)....
Eifuku-ji
Japan
Eifuku-ji at Taishi-chō, Osaka, guards the tomb of Prince Shōtoku — Japan's foundational royal patron of Buddhism — alongside his mother and consort in a single circular...
Eifuku-ji (栄福寺)
Imabari, Imabari, Ehime, Japan
Eifuku-ji sits in a quiet bamboo and cedar grove on a low hill above Imabari, the 57th stop on the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage....
En'yū-ji (円融寺)
Chichibu, Japan
En'yū-ji is the twenty-sixth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — a Rinzai Zen temple of the Kenchō-ji branch with an unusual feature: the Iwai-dō, a stage-built...
Engyō-ji (圓教寺)
Himeji, Himeji, Hyōgo, Japan
Engyo-ji is station 27 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Hyogo dedicated to Nyoirin Kannon....
Enkō-ji (Myō-ō-in)
Fukuyama, Japan
Enkō-ji, also known as Myō-ō-in, sits on Atago-yama above the Kusado Sengen archaeological site in Fukuyama, Hiroshima....
Enkōji (延光寺)
Sukumo, Sukumo, Kōchi, Japan
Enkō-ji is the thirty-ninth and final temple of the Tosa (Kōchi) section of the Shikoku 88, set in Sukumo....
Showing 1-48 of 345 sites
Key questions
Japan sacred-site questions
- What sacred sites can I explore in Japan?
- Pilgrim Map lists sacred places in Japan across living worship sites, heritage landmarks, pilgrimage destinations, and culturally significant landscapes. The current guide lists 345 sites organized by region, tradition, and site type.
- Which traditions are represented in Japan?
- The most represented traditions include Buddhism, Shinto, Jomon, Zoku-Jomon, Nature Worship, Rinzai Zen Buddhism.
- How should I plan a sacred-site visit in Japan?
- Start with regional clusters, compare nearby places on the map, then open individual site pages for coordinates, etiquette, and sacred context where available.
- Can I view Japan sacred sites on a map?
- Yes. Switch to map view to compare geographic clusters, then open individual site pages for coordinates, visiting context, and related places.