Buddhism sacred sites in Japan

Enmyō-ji

Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, 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....

Enpuku-ji

Chōshi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Enpuku-ji is the 27th Bandō station and the easternmost stop of the eastern Kannon circuit....

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....

Entsū-ji

Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Entsū-ji crowns a small mountain in Tamashima, Kurashiki, and serves as Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage station #7....

Fujii-dera

Fujiidera, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Fujii-dera is station 5 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Omuro-ha temple in Osaka dedicated to Senju Kannon. Founded in the early 8th century....

Fujii-dera

Yoshinogawa, Tokushima Prefecture, 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....

Fukagawa Fudō-dō

Koto City, Tokyo, Japan

Fukagawa Fudō-dō (深川不動堂 (成田山東京別院)) is an active Shingon Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Gakuen-ji (Ichijō-in)

Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan

Gakuen-ji (Ichijō-in), the 25th station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, occupies a steep forested ridge north of Izumo Taisha....

Ganden-ji

Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Ganden-ji — locally known as Iwadono Kannon — is the second station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, set on a hilltop above Zushi....

Gankei-ji

Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Gankei-ji is station bangai-gankei-ji on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Kyoto dedicated to Kannon....

Gaya-in

Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Gaya-in, formally Ōtanizan Daikei-ji Gaya-in, is one of Hyōgo's most important Honzan Shugendō temples — a Tendai-affiliated branch of mountain ascetic Buddhism....

Gōdo-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Gōdo-ji, eighteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Sōtō Zen temple whose name 'Divine Gate' (神門) commemorates a stand of sakaki trees that once formed...

Gohyaku Rakanji Temple

Meguro City, Tokyo, Japan

Gohyaku Rakanji Temple (天恩山 五百羅漢寺) is an active Japanese Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Goka-dō

Yokoze, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Goka-dō is the fifth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....

Gokokuji

Bunkyo City, Tokyo, Japan

Gokokuji (護国寺) is an active Shingon Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Gokuraku-ji

Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan

Gokuraku-ji is Temple 2 of the Shikoku 88, sitting 1.4 km southwest of Temple 1 in Naruto....

Gōshō-ji

Utazu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Temple 78 Gōshō-ji rises above the old port of Utazu on a hill overlooking the Seto Inland Sea....

Gōtoku-ji

Setagaya City, Tokyo, Japan

Gōtoku-ji (大谿山 豪徳寺) is an active Sōtō Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Gumyō-ji

Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Gumyō-ji, the Gumyōji Kannon, is the fourteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage and Yokohama's oldest temple....

Gyōgan-ji (Kōdō)

Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Gyōgan-ji (Kōdō) is station 19 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism, Miyako Shichifukujin temple in Kyoto dedicated to Senju Kannon....

Hanta-ji

Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, 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....

Hase-dera

Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan

Hase-dera is station 8 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Buzan-ha temple in Nara dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....

Hase-dera

Sakurai, Kanagawa 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...

Hashidate-dō

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Hashidate-dō — Sekiryū-zan Hashidate-dō — is the 28th station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Sōtō Zen temple set beneath an eighty-metre limestone cliff in the...

Henshō-ji (Hōkai-in)

Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Henshō-ji, also known as Hōkai-in, sits at the base of wooded Kongōsan in northern Okayama City....

Higashi Hongan-ji

Taito City, Tokyo, Japan

Higashi Hongan-ji (東本願寺) is an active Jodo Shinshu Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Hōchō-ji

Yokoze, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Hōchō-ji is the seventh station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....

Hōgon-ji

Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Hogon-ji is station 30 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Buzan-ha, Benzaiten devotion temple in Shiga dedicated to Senju Kannon....

Hōju-ji

Saijō, Ehime Prefecture, 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...

Hōki-in

Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan

Hōki-in is station bangai-hoki-in on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Buzan branch temple in Nara dedicated to Kannon....

Honsenji Temple

Shinagawa City, Tokyo, Japan

Honsenji Temple (品川寺) is an active Shingon Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or...

Hōrin-ji

Awa, Tokushima Prefecture, 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....

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....

Hōsen-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, 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...

Hōshō-ji

Ogano, Saitama Prefecture, 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....

Hotsumisaki-ji

Muroto, Kochi Prefecture, Japan

Hotsumisaki-ji, Temple 24 of the Shikoku 88, sits on the cliffs of Cape Muroto. Below, in the Mikurodō Cave, the young Kūkai is said to have completed the Kokūzō...

Houki-in Temple

Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

Hōki-in is the Mt. Kōya sub-temple charged each year with carrying fresh monastic robes to Kōbō Daishi at the Okunoin mausoleum, where Kūkai is believed to remain in...

Hōun-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, 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....

Ichihata-ji

Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan

Ichihata-ji (Ichibata Yakushi), the 26th station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, sits atop Mt. Ichihata above Lake Shinji....

Ichijō-ji

Kasai, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Ichijo-ji is station 26 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Hyogo dedicated to Shō Kannon....

Ichinomiya-ji

Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, 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....

Ido-ji

Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan

Ido-ji, Temple 17 of the Shikoku 88, is named for a well Kūkai is said to have dug in a single night to bring clean water to a suffering village....

Ikaruga-dera

Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Hyōgo Ikaruga-dera in Taishi-chō was founded by Prince Shōtoku in 606 CE on rice-paddy lands granted to him in Harima Province by Empress Suiko....

Ikegami Honmon-ji Temple

Ota City, Tokyo, Japan

Ikegami Honmon-ji Temple (日蓮宗 大本山 池上本門寺) is an active Nichiren Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Imakumano Kannon-ji

Part of Sennyū-ji

Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Imakumano Kannon-ji is station 15 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Kumano cult temple in Kyoto dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....

Imamiya-bō

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Imamiya-bō, fourteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji branch on a site that was, for nearly a millennium, a single...

Ishite-ji

Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Temple 51 of the Shikoku henro is the legendary birthplace of the entire pilgrimage tradition....

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....