Buddhism sacred sites in Japan

Mount Takao Yakuō-in

Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan

Mount Takao Yakuō-in (高尾山 薬王院 有喜寺) is an active Japanese Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Mount Yudono

Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan

Mount Yudono is the culminating mountain of the Dewa Sanzan pilgrimage of rebirth in Yamagata....

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...

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. 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....

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. Ishizuchi

Saijo, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Mount Ishizuchi stands as the highest peak in western Japan and one of the Seven Sacred Mountains....

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. 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...

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...

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...

Musashi Kokubunji

Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan

Musashi Kokubunji (武蔵国分寺) is an active Shingon Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or...

Myoho-ji

Suginami City, Tokyo, Japan

Myoho-ji (妙法寺) is an active Nichiren Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Nagao-ji

Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture, 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....

Nago-ji

Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, 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....

Nakayama-dera

Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Nakayama-dera is station 24 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism — Nakayama branch temple in Hyogo dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....

Nan'endō (Kofuku-ji)

Part of Kofuku-ji

Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan

Nan'endō (Kōfuku-ji) is station 9 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Hossō school temple in Nara dedicated to Fukūkenjaku Kannon....

Nankōbō

Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Temple 55 of the Shikoku henro is the only one of the 88 whose name ends in 'bō' — priest's lodging — a vestige of its origin as a sub-temple of the great Bekku Ōyamazumi...

Nariai-ji

Miyazu, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Nariai-ji is station 28 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Hashidate Shingon-shū temple in Kyoto dedicated to Shō Kannon....

Negoro-ji

Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Negoro-ji stands at 365 metres on the slopes of Mt. Aomine, deep in the cedar forest of the Goshikidai plateau....

Nichirin-ji

Daigo, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Nichirin-ji sits on the eighth station of Mt. Yamizo, the highest peak in Ibaraki....

Nishiarai Daishi

Adachi City, Tokyo, Japan

Nishiarai Daishi (西新井大師 總持寺) is an active Shingon Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Nofuku-ji

Hyogo Prefecture, 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....

Nosaka-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, 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...

Oka-dera

Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan

Oka-dera is station 7 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Buzan-ha temple in Nara dedicated to Nyoirin Kannon....

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....

Ōkubo-ji

Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Ōkubo-ji is the eighty-eighth and final temple of the Shikoku circuit, set in a deep valley at 450 metres between Mt. Yahazu and Mt. Nyotai near the Tokushima border....

Ōmi-dō

Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Ōmi-dō is the 25th Bandō station and the sole institutional Buddhist successor of Tsukuba Daigongen — the syncretic Shinto-Buddhist complex that fused Kannon devotion with...

Ongaku-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Ongaku-ji is the twenty-third station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage — a Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzen-ji branch whose name means 'music.' Founded by tradition...

Onzan-ji

Komatsushima, Tokushima Prefecture, 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...

Osore-zan Boto-ji

Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan

Osorezan, the mountain of fear, rises as one of Japan's three most sacred mountains....

Ōya-ji

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Ōya-ji, station 19 of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, sits inside a natural rock-shelter overhang of Ōya tuff in Utsunomiya....

Rakuhō-ji

Sakuragawa, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Rakuhō-ji is the 24th Bandō station, popularly known as Amabiki Kannon — the Rain-Drawing Kannon....

Rendai-ji

Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Rendai-ji crowns Mt. Yuga (270 m) above Kurashiki and serves as Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage station #6....

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....

Rokuharamitsu-ji

Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Rokuharamitsu-ji is station 17 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Kūya nembutsu temple in Kyoto dedicated to Jūichimen Kannon....

Ruri-ji

Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Funakoshi-san Nankōbō Ruri-ji is the FINAL station of the New Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage....

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....

Ryōzen-ji

Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, 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...

Ryūseki-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Ryūseki-ji is the nineteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, a Sōtō Zen temple whose hall sits not on a foundation but on a single mass of conglomerate...

Ryusen-ji Temple (Meguro Fudoson)

Meguro City, Tokyo, Japan

Ryusen-ji Temple (Meguro Fudoson) (目黒不動尊 瀧泉寺) is an active Japanese Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Ryūshō-in

Narita, Chiba Prefecture, 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....

Ryuukou-ji

Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Ryūkō-ji is the forty-first temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and one of its most visible cases of shinbutsu-shūgō, the older Japanese practice of holding kami and Buddha...

Ryūzō-ji

Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan

Ryūzō-ji — Takitōzan Ryūzō-ji — is regarded as the oldest temple in Yamaguchi City, traditionally founded in 698 by En no Gyōja and 741 by Gyōki....

Saidai-ji (Okayama)

Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, 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...

Saigoku-ji (Sōji-in)

Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Saigoku-ji — full name Maniyama Sōji-in Saigoku-ji — sits on Mt. Atago above Onomichi's old port, ascended by 108 stone steps....