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Buddhism sacred sites in Japan
Explore Buddhism sacred sites in Japan: pilgrimage places, living traditions, heritage landmarks, and sacred landscapes.
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Buddhism sacred sites in Japan overview
Buddhism sacred sites in Japan help visitors move beyond broad directories into a more precise set of sacred places with shared geography, tradition, or site type.
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Showing 120 of 289 matching sites
Kongobu-ji Temple (Mt. Koya)
Koya, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
High in the mountains of Wakayama, Kongobu-ji serves as headquarters of Shingon Buddhism, the esoteric tradition Kobo Daishi brought from China in 806 CE....
Rinnō-ji
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Rinnoji Temple stands as the Buddhist heart of Nikko's sacred landscape, founded in 766 CE by Shodo Shonin....
Mt. Yoshino
Yoshino, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Mount Yoshino is where Japanese mountain mysticism was born. In the 7th century, the ascetic En no Gyoja achieved spiritual awakening here and founded Shugendo—the path of...
Mt. Haku
Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Blanketed in snow for much of the year, Mount Haku—the White Mountain—has drawn pilgrims for over thirteen centuries....
Mt. Chokai
Yuza, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Rising 2,236 meters at the border of Yamagata and Akita Prefectures, Mount Chokai has drawn mountain worshippers since ancient times....
Mt. Katsuragi
Gose, Nara Prefecture, Japan
The Katsuragi Mountains are where Japanese mountain mysticism was born. In 634 CE, En no Gyoja—the legendary founder of Shugendo—entered the world at the foot of these...
Okadera Buddhist Temple, Asuka
Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan
In the ancient village of Asuka, Okadera Temple shelters Japan's largest clay statue—an 8th-century Nyoirin Kannon standing 4.85 meters tall....
Horyuji
Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan
The pagoda and main hall of Hōryū-ji have stood for over 1,300 years—the oldest surviving wooden structures on earth....
Mt. Iwaki
Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Rising 1,625 meters above Aomori Prefecture, Mount Iwaki dominates the Tsugaru region as its highest peak and spiritual guardian....
Mt. Kaimon
Ibusuki, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
At the southern tip of Kyushu, Mount Kaimon rises in such perfect conical form that locals call it 'Satsuma Fuji.' This 924-meter peak has drawn worshippers since ancient...
Mt. Omine (Mount Sanjō)
Tenkawa, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Mount Omine is the headquarters of Shugendo—Japan's tradition of mountain asceticism—and perhaps its most intensely sacred site....
Mt. Ontake
Otaki, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Japan's second highest volcano has drawn pilgrims for over a thousand years. White-robed devotees still purify under waterfalls before ascending Mount Ontake, following...
Ishiteji Temple, Matsuyama
Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan
At Temple 51 of Japan's most famous pilgrimage, a stone preserved for twelve centuries tells of sin, remorse, and redemption....
Osore-zan Boto-ji
Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Osorezan, the mountain of fear, rises as one of Japan's three most sacred mountains....
Yakuriji Temple, Yakuri
Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
Temple 85 on the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage, Yakuriji sits high on Mount Goken, the Mountain of Five Swords, whose dramatic peaks thrust skyward like divine blades....
Seigantoji (Seiganto Temple)
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
High on Mt. Nachi in Wakayama Prefecture, the three-story vermillion pagoda of Seigantoji frames one of the most iconic views in Japan: the 133-meter Nachi Falls cascading...
Mt. Fuji
Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Mount Fuji rises 3,776 meters in nearly perfect symmetry—a form so iconic it has come to represent Japan itself....
Toji
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
For over 1,200 years, Tō-ji has been the beating heart of Shingon Buddhism—the esoteric tradition that Kūkai brought from China in the 9th century....
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....
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
On the forested slopes of Mount Otowa in eastern Kyoto, a vast wooden stage juts out over the valley—built without a single nail, supported by pillars of...
Mii-dera
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Mii-dera has earned its nickname—the Phoenix Temple—through seven destructions and seven risings....
Mt. Bandai
Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Mount Bandai rises in Fukushima as a transformed sacred peak. Called 'rock ladder to the sky' in ancient times, the mountain was reshaped by an 1888 eruption that created...
Ryoan-ji
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Ryoan-ji in Kyoto holds the world's most celebrated Zen rock garden. Fifteen stones rest on raked white gravel, arranged so that from any viewing point, one remains hidden....
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....
Mt. Ishizuchi
Saijo, Ehime Prefecture, Japan
Mount Ishizuchi stands as the highest peak in western Japan and one of the Seven Sacred Mountains....
Motoyamaji Temple, Motoyama
Mitoyo, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
Motoyamaji Temple, the 70th station on Shikoku's 88-temple pilgrimage, guards the approach to spiritual completion....
Kongofukuji Temple, Tosashimizu
Tosashimizu, Kochi Prefecture, Japan
At the southernmost tip of Shikoku, where land yields to endless ocean, stands the temple Kobo Daishi founded after sensing the presence of Fudaraku—Kannon's Pure...
Hase-dera (長谷寺)
Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Hase-dera in Kamakura is the fourth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho — a hillside temple above Yuigahama beach famous for its Eleven-Headed Kannon, a 9.18-metre gilded...
Todaiji
Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan
In 752 CE, Emperor Shōmu consecrated a bronze Buddha of unprecedented scale—15 meters tall, cast from nearly all the copper in Japan—to bring peace to a nation wracked by...
Beppu Hells (Jigoku)
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...
Enryaku-ji temple and Mt. Hiei
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Enryaku-ji stands as the root of Japanese Buddhism, the mountain monastery that trained the founders of virtually every major Buddhist school in Japan....
Kurama-dera Temple
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Rising 584 meters above Kyoto's northern edge, Mount Kurama has drawn seekers for over twelve centuries....
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....
Mount Yudono
Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
At the culmination of the Dewa Sanzan pilgrimage, where seekers symbolically die and are reborn across three sacred mountains, Mount Yudono guards the final mystery....
Kongōchō-ji (金剛頂寺)
Muroto, Muroto, Kōchi, Japan
Kongōchō-ji crowns a wooded promontory on the western side of Cape Muroto, the second of the Muroto Sanzan triad....
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....
Kōjō-ji
Onomichi, Japan
Kōjō-ji — Chōon-zan Kōjō-ji — sits atop Mt. Chōon ('Tide-Sound Mountain') above Setoda Bay on Ikuchijima....
Nariai-ji (成相寺)
Miyazu, Miyazu, Kyoto, Japan
Nariai-ji is station 28 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Hashidate Shingon-shū temple in Kyoto dedicated to Shō Kannon....
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)....
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....
Sanuki Kokubun-ji (讃岐国分寺)
Takamatsu, Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan
Temple 80 Sanuki Kokubun-ji in Takamatsu is the working successor to one of the eighth-century kokubunji — the provincial protection-temples ordered by Emperor Shōmu in...
Shimabu-ji (四萬部寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Shimabu-ji is the first temple of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Saitama, Japan....
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,...
Imakumano Kannon-ji (今熊野観音寺)
Higashiyama-ku, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Imakumano Kannon-ji is station 15 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Kumano cult temple in Kyoto dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....
Suishō-ji (Daishō-in)
Miyajima, Japan
Daishō-in — full classical name Takizan Suiseiji Daishōin (also Suishō-ji), commonly called Miyajima Daishō-in — is the daihonzan (head temple) of the Omuro branch of...
![Iwaya-ji [ja] (岩屋寺)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Flive.staticflickr.com%2F5674%2F23792583391_6cd21251b5_b.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Iwaya-ji [ja] (岩屋寺)
Kumakōgen, Kumakōgen, Ehime, Japan
Iwaya-ji is the forty-fifth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and a designated National Scenic Beauty....
Tachiki-Kannon An’yō-ji
Japan
Tachiki Kannon An'yō-ji stands above the Seta River on a cliff that pilgrims reach by climbing roughly 800 stone steps....
Fujii-dera (藤井寺)
Yoshinogawa, Yoshinogawa, Tokushima, Japan
Fujii-dera sits at the foot of a steep mountain ridge in Yoshinogawa, the threshold temple before the most demanding stretch of the Shikoku 88....
Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺)
Isumi, Japan
Otowasan Kiyomizu-dera in Isumi, Chiba, is the 32nd station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho — a Tendai temple set on Otowa-yama in the forested hills of southern Bōsō....
Hanta-ji (繁多寺)
Matsuyama, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan
Temple 50 of the Shikoku henro stands on a wooded hillside above southern Matsuyama, its Yakushi Nyorai principal image attributed by tradition to the wandering monk Gyōki....
Nichirin-ji
Daigo, Japan
Nichirin-ji sits on the eighth station of Mt. Yamizo, the highest peak in Ibaraki....
Senyū-ji (仙遊寺)
Imabari, Imabari, Ehime, Japan
Senyū-ji crowns Mt. Sakurei south of Imabari, the 58th temple of the Shikoku 88....
Sugimoto-dera (杉本寺)
Kamakura, Japan
Sugimoto-dera is the first station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho — Kamakura's oldest Buddhist temple, where three Eleven-Headed Kannon statues from successive Heian centuries...
Onzan-ji (恩山寺)
Komatsushima, Komatsushima, Tokushima, Japan
Onzan-ji, Temple 18 of the Shikoku 88, is the 'Temple of Gratitude.' It stands at the place where Kūkai's mother, Tamayori Gozen, became one of the first women admitted to...
Negoro-ji (根香寺)
Takamatsu, Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan
Negoro-ji stands at 365 metres on the slopes of Mt. Aomine, deep in the cedar forest of the Goshikidai plateau....
Rokuharamitsu-ji (六波羅蜜寺)
Higashiyama-ku, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Rokuharamitsu-ji is station 17 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Kūya nembutsu temple in Kyoto dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....
Nagao-ji (長尾寺)
Sanuki, Sanuki, Kagawa, Japan
Nagao-ji is the eighty-seventh of the eighty-eight Shikoku temples — the second-to-last, set in the open Nagao district of Sanuki under an enormous camphor canopy....
Tanema-ji (種間寺)
Haruno, Haruno, Kōchi, Japan
The thirty-fourth temple of the Shikoku 88 sits among rice paddies in Haruno, Kōchi....
Shōfuku-ji (勝福寺)
Odawara, Japan
Shōfuku-ji — popularly known as Iizumi Kannon — is the fifth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho and one of the most active Shingon Kannon temples in Kanagawa....
Mandara-ji (曼荼羅寺)
Zentsūji, Zentsūji, Kagawa, Japan
Mandara-ji is the ancestral temple of the Saeki clan, into which Kūkai was born....
Kongojo-ji
Japan
Nagusayama Kongōjō-ji in Fukusaki, Hyōgo, traces its founding to 597 CE under the Korean monk Ekan during Empress Suiko's reign....
Kannon-in
Tottori, Japan
Kannon-in in Tottori, the 32nd station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, was founded in 1632 as the Tottori-Ikeda clan's domain temple....
Kanjizai-ji (観自在寺)
Ainan, Ainan, Ehime, Japan
Kanjizai-ji is the fortieth stop on the Shikoku 88 — the first temple of the Ehime (Iyo) section, marking the pilgrim's transition from Tosa's discipline of asceticism...
Hōun-ji (法雲寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Hōun-ji — Zuiryū-san Hōun-ji — is the 30th station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, founded in 1319 by the Kamakura Zen master Dōin (Dōon) of Kenchō-ji....
Shimpuku-ji (真福寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Shinpuku-ji is the second station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage and the temple whose late-Muromachi addition raised the Chichibu count to 34....
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...
Iyadani-ji (弥谷寺)
Mitoyo, Mitoyo, Kagawa, Japan
Iyadani-ji is one of three reizan — spirit mountains — of Shikoku, places where the souls of the dead are traditionally felt to gather....
Tenryu-ji Temple
Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
At the foot of the Arashiyama mountains in western Kyoto, Tenryu-ji preserves a garden designed by Zen master Musō Soseki for a single purpose: meditation....
Mii-dera (三井寺)
Otsu, Otsu, Shiga, Japan
Mii-dera is station 14 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism, Saigoku Kannon devotion temple in Shiga dedicated to Nyoirin Kannon....
Yōkoku-ji
Japan
Yōkoku-ji — known to most Kyotoites as Yanagidani Kannon — joins three rare devotional layers in one Nishiyama mountainside: a hibutsu Eleven-faced Thousand-armed Kannon...
Saihoin
Japan
Saihōin is a small Pure Land nunnery in Taishi-chō, founded in 622 CE by three of Prince Shōtoku's nurse-attendants who shaved their heads after his death and built the...
Gokuraku-ji (極楽寺)
Naruto, Naruto, Tokushima, Japan
Gokuraku-ji is Temple 2 of the Shikoku 88, sitting 1.4 km southwest of Temple 1 in Naruto....
Yasaka-ji (八坂寺)
Matsuyama, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan
Yasaka-ji is the forty-seventh temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and one of its most layered....
Jikō-ji (慈光寺)
Tokigawa, Japan
Jikō-ji on Mount Toki, founded in tradition in 673 and as an institution in 770 CE, is one of the oldest Tendai mountain temples in the Kantō....
Saizen-ji (西善寺)
Yokoze, Japan
Saizen-ji is the eighth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama. The Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji school sits at the northern foot of Mt....
Hōsen-ji (法泉寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Hōsen-ji is the twenty-fourth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — a Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji branch that, until the mid-19th century, was a Shugendō...
Taiyū-ji
Japan
Founded by Kūkai in the early 9th century at the heart of what is now Osaka's Umeda entertainment district, Taiyū-ji is a Kōyasan Shingon temple whose principal Senju...
Ryūshō-in
Narita, Japan
Ryūshō-in — known locally as Namegawa Kannon — is the 28th station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage, a Tendai temple set among rice fields outside Narita....
Tanjō-ji (Okayama)
Kumenan, Japan
Tanjō-ji marks the literal birthplace of Hōnen Shōnin (1133–1212), founder of Jōdo-shū Pure Land Buddhism....
Taisan-ji
Japan
Sanshinzan Taisan-ji in Kobe's Nishi Ward holds a 1293 wooden main hall registered as a National Treasure of Japan — one of only a few such structures in the entire Hyōgo...
Entsū-ji
Kurashiki, Japan
Entsū-ji crowns a small mountain in Tamashima, Kurashiki, and serves as Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage station #7....
Shusshakaji (出釈迦寺)
Zentsūji, Zentsūji, Kagawa, Japan
Temple 73 Shusshakaji sits at the foot of Mt Gahaishi in Zentsūji City, Kagawa. The legend here is intimate: a seven-year-old boy named Mao — later Kūkai — leapt from a...
Goka-dō (語歌堂)
Yokoze, Japan
Goka-dō is the fifth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....
Suisen-ji (水潜寺)
Minano, Japan
Suisen-ji — Nittaku-san Suisen-ji — is the 34th and final station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage and the kechigan-jo (結願所, 'place where the vow is fulfilled') of...
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....
Hōshō-ji (法性寺)
Ogano, Japan
Hōshō-ji — Hannya-san Hōshō-ji — is the 32nd station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Sōtō Zen mountain temple in Ogano set against a sandstone cliff....
Kannon-ji (観音寺)
Kan'onji, Kan'onji, Kagawa, Japan
Kannon-ji shares its precinct on Mt. Kotohiki with Jinne-in at Temple 68, but the two temples have separate histories and separate identities....
Nofuku-ji
Japan
Nōfuku-ji, founded by Saichō in 805 CE on his return from Tang China, is one of the oldest Tendai temples in the Hyōgo region....
Gōshō-ji (郷照寺)
Utazu, Utazu, Kagawa, Japan
Temple 78 Gōshō-ji rises above the old port of Utazu on a hill overlooking the Seto Inland Sea....
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...
Hōrin-ji (法輪寺)
Awa, Awa, Tokushima, Japan
Hōrin-ji is the only temple among the Shikoku 88 whose principal image is a Parinirvana Shaka Nyorai—Shakyamuni at the threshold of nirvana, lying on his side....
Jūraku-ji (十楽寺)
Awa, Awa, Tokushima, Japan
Jūraku-ji is Temple 7 of the Shikoku 88, in Awa, Tokushima. The 'Temple of Ten Joys' offers two specialized intercessions: an eye-healing Jizō beside the Hondō and a row...
Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺)
Higashiyama-ku, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Kiyomizu-dera is station 16 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Kita-Hossō Buddhism, Saigoku Kannon devotion temple in Kyoto dedicated to Senju Kannon....
Enpuku-ji (圓福寺)
Chōshi, Japan
Enpuku-ji is the 27th Bandō station and the easternmost stop of the eastern Kannon circuit....
Hōju-ji (宝寿寺)
Saijō, Saijō, Ehime, Japan
Hōju-ji is the 62nd fudasho on the Shikoku 88, an 8th-century imperial foundation that has been moved at least four times—by flood, war, Meiji separation, and the...
Ichinomiya-ji (一宮寺)
Takamatsu, Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan
Ichinomiya-ji is the eighty-third temple of the Shikoku circuit and the only one historically tied to a province's principal Shinto shrine....
Kongo-ji
Japan
Founded by Gyōki on Mount Amano in the Tenpyō era and revived in the late Heian period by the monk Akan, Amano-san Kongō-ji became known as Nyonin Kōya — Women's Kōyasan —...
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....
Enmyō-ji (圓明寺)
Matsuyama, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan
Temple 53 of the Shikoku henro is small, layered, and unusually plural. Its Shingon Hondō houses an Amida Nyorai principal image — uncommon for the school....
Kagaku-ji
Japan
Banshū Akō Taiunzan Kagaku-ji is the Asano clan's family temple in Akō, founded in 1645 and made permanent home of Akō's memorial culture by the 1701–1703 vendetta of the...
Saigoku-ji (Sōji-in)
Onomichi, Japan
Saigoku-ji — full name Maniyama Sōji-in Saigoku-ji — sits on Mt. Atago above Onomichi's old port, ascended by 108 stone steps....
Nan'endō (Kofuku-ji) (南円堂)
Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan
Nan'endō (Kōfuku-ji) is station 9 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Hossō school temple in Nara dedicated to Fukūkenjaku Kannon....
Kami Daigo-ji (醍醐寺)
Fushimi-ku, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
Kami Daigo-ji is station 11 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Daigo-ha temple in Kyoto dedicated to Juntei Kannon....
Ryōzen-ji (霊山寺)
Naruto, Naruto, Tokushima, Japan
Ryōzen-ji is Temple 1 of the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage in Naruto, Tokushima. Pilgrims begin their 1,200-kilometer circuit here, buying white robes, conical hats, and...
Ōya-ji (大谷寺)
Utsunomiya, Japan
Ōya-ji, station 19 of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, sits inside a natural rock-shelter overhang of Ōya tuff in Utsunomiya....
Mizuma-dera
Japan
Mizuma-dera, popularly called Mizuma Kannon, is among the most actively visited temples in southern Osaka....
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....
Saidai-ji (Okayama)
Okayama, Japan
Saidai-ji Kannon-in opens the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage in eastern Okayama. Founded in the eighth century around a Senju Kannon image said to have chosen this spot by...
Nosaka-ji (野坂寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Nosaka-ji, twelfth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji branch formed by the 1741 merger of an older Kannon-dō with...
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....
Shinshō-ji (津照寺)
Muroto, Muroto, Kōchi, Japan
Shinshō-ji rises directly above the working harbour of Murotsu, reached by a steep stone staircase that climbs through a Niōmon gate set unusually mid-flight....
Zenjibu-ji (禅師峰寺)
Nankoku, Nankoku, Kōchi, Japan
Zenjibu-ji rests on the cliff-edge of Hachiyō-san — Eight-Petalled Lotus Mountain — above Urado Bay....
Sanbutsu-ji
Misasa, Japan
Sanbutsu-ji, the 31st station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, sits on Mt. Mitoku in Misasa, Tottori....
Hase-dera (長谷寺)
Sakurai, Sakurai, Nara, Japan
Hase-dera is station 8 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Buzan-ha temple in Nara dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....
Jōsen-ji (常泉寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Jōsen-ji is the third station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Saitama, Japan....
Meiseki-ji (明石寺)
Seiyo, Seiyo, Ehime, Japan
Meiseki-ji is the forty-third temple of the Shikoku 88 and one of the few stops not affiliated with Shingon....
Nago-ji (那古寺)
Tateyama, Japan
Nago-ji — Fudaraku-san Nago-ji — is the 33rd and final station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, set on a forested mid-slope of Mt. Nago in Tateyama, Chiba....
Kannon-ji (観音寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Kannon-ji is the twenty-first station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buzan-ha temple in central Chichibu locally known as Yano-dō ('Arrow Hall')....
Kiyotaki-ji (清滝寺)
Tsuchiura, Japan
Kiyotaki-ji is the 26th Bandō station, a quiet Shingon-Buzan temple on the lower slopes of Mt. Ryūgamine in rural Tsuchiura....
Kyūshō-ji (久昌寺)
Chichibu, Japan
Kyūshō-ji is the twenty-fifth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — a Sōtō Zen temple known by its older nickname Otehan-dera, 'Hand-Seal Temple,' for the legend...
Key questions
Buddhism sacred sites in Japan questions
- What Buddhism sacred sites in Japan are included?
- This guide includes 289 Buddhism sacred sites in Japan, filtered from the Pilgrim Map atlas for stronger browsing and planning context.
- Can I view these sacred sites on a map?
- Yes. Use the map view to compare geographic clusters, then open individual site pages for coordinates, nearby places, and practical visiting context.
- Where can I explore more Buddhism sites in Japan?
- Use the related browse links on this page to widen your view by country, tradition, site type, or a focused search.