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 49-96 of 345 sites in this country guide
Enmei-ji (延命寺)
Imabari, Imabari, Ehime, Japan
Temple 54 of the Shikoku henro is the first of six temples clustered around Imabari....
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....
Enpuku-ji (圓福寺)
Chōshi, 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, Japan
Entsū-ji crowns a small mountain in Tamashima, Kurashiki, and serves as Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage station #7....
Fugoppe Cave
Yoichi, Hokkaidō, Japan
Carved into the walls of a small sea-facing cave near Yoichi, approximately 800 petroglyphs have puzzled scholars since their discovery in 1950....
Fujii-dera (葛井寺)
Fujiidera, Fujiidera, Osaka, 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 (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....
Fushimi Inari-taisha
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Since 711 CE, pilgrims have climbed sacred Mount Inari through tunnels of vermilion torii gates—each one donated by someone whose prayers were answered, or who hoped they...
Futarasan Shrine (Nikkō Futarasan Jinja)
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Futarasan Shrine connects three sacred spaces in a vertical axis of worship: the main shrine at the base of Mount Nantai, the Chuguji by Lake Chuzenji, and the summit...
Gakuen-ji (Ichijō-in)
Izumo, 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 (岩殿寺)
Zushi, Japan
Ganden-ji — locally known as Iwadono Kannon — is the second station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, set on a hilltop above Zushi....
Gankei-ji (元慶寺)
Kyoto City, Kyoto City, Kyoto, Japan
Gankei-ji is station bangai-gankei-ji on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Kyoto dedicated to Kannon....
Gaya-in
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 (神門寺)
Chichibu, 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...
Goka-dō (語歌堂)
Yokoze, Japan
Goka-dō is the fifth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....
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....
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....
Goshono Site
Ichinohe, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
For forty generations, Jomon communities gathered at this river terrace to tend their dead and feed their fires....
Gumyō-ji (弘明寺)
Yokohama, Japan
Gumyō-ji, the Gumyōji Kannon, is the fourteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage and Yokohama's oldest temple....
Gyōgan-ji (Kōdō) (行願寺)
Nakagyo-ku, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 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 (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....
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...
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....
Hashidate-dō (橋立堂)
Chichibu, 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, Japan
Henshō-ji, also known as Hōkai-in, sits at the base of wooded Kongōsan in northern Okayama City....
Hiro Shrine
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
At the base of Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall, Hirou Shrine offers something rare: direct worship of natural phenomenon....
Hiyoshi Taisha
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
At the foot of sacred Mount Hiei, Hiyoshi Taisha has served as spiritual guardian for over two thousand years....
Hōchō-ji (法長寺)
Yokoze, Japan
Hōchō-ji is the seventh station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....
Hōgon-ji (宝厳寺)
Nagahama, Nagahama, Shiga, 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 (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...
Hōki-in (法起院)
Sakurai, Sakurai, Nara, Japan
Hōki-in is station bangai-hoki-in on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism, Buzan branch temple in Nara dedicated to Kannon....
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....
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 (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...
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....
Hotsumisaki-ji (最御崎寺)
Muroto, Muroto, Kōchi, 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
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 (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....
Ichihata-ji
Izumo, Japan
Ichihata-ji (Ichibata Yakushi), the 26th station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, sits atop Mt. Ichihata above Lake Shinji....
Ichijō-ji (一乗寺)
Kasai, Kasai, Hyōgo, Japan
Ichijo-ji is station 26 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism temple in Hyogo dedicated to Shō Kannon....
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....
Ido-ji (井戸寺)
Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, 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
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....
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....
Imamiya-bō (今宮坊)
Chichibu, 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...
Inasa Beach
Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
In Japanese mythology, a god descended from heaven at this beach, thrust his sword into the sand, and demanded that the ruler of the earthly realm cede power to the sun...
Ise
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Deep within a sacred forest in Mie Prefecture stands Ise Jingu, the most venerated Shinto shrine in Japan....
Showing 49-96 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.