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 193-240 of 345 sites in this country guide
Meiji Shrine
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Rising from the heart of Tokyo, Meiji Shrine offers one of the world's most dramatic sacred thresholds....
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....
Meoto Iwa
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Two rocks rise from the sea at Futami, joined by a massive shimenawa rope weighing over one ton....
Mii-dera
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Mii-dera has earned its nickname—the Phoenix Temple—through seven destructions and seven risings....
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....
Mimuroto-ji (三室戸寺)
Uji, Uji, Kyoto, Japan
Mimuroto-ji is station 10 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Honzan Shugen-shū temple in Kyoto dedicated to Senju Kannon....
Minamihokke-ji (Tsubosaka-dera) (南法華寺)
Takatori, Takatori, Nara, Japan
Minamihokke-ji (Tsubosaka-dera) is station 6 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon Buddhism — Tsubosaka temple in Nara dedicated to Senju Kannon....
Mitaki-dera (Mitaki-Kannon)
Hiroshima, Japan
Mitaki-dera — Ryūsen-zan Mitaki-ji — sits in a forested ravine 3 km from the hypocentre of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, with three named waterfalls flowing through the...
Mitsumine Jingu (Mitsumine Grand Shrine)
Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
High in the Chichibu mountains, Mitsumine Shrine guards nearly two thousand years of worship at a place where wolves once guided a lost prince to safety....
Miyajima Island
Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
The vermilion torii gate rising from the Seto Inland Sea is one of Japan's most recognized images....
Mizuma-dera
Japan
Mizuma-dera, popularly called Mizuma Kannon, is among the most actively visited temples in southern Osaka....
Mizusawa-dera (水澤寺)
Shibukawa, Japan
Mizusawa-dera, the sixteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho Kannon pilgrimage, sits on the wooded slopes below Ikaho Onsen....
Motoyama-ji (本山寺)
Mitoyo, Mitoyo, Kagawa, Japan
Motoyama-ji rises from the Mitoyo plain in Kagawa, its vermillion five-storied pagoda visible across rice fields....
Motoyamaji Temple, Motoyama
Mitoyo, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
Motoyamaji Temple, the 70th station on Shikoku's 88-temple pilgrimage, guards the approach to spiritual completion....
Mount Miwa
Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Mount Miwa does not house a deity. The mountain is the deity. This 467-meter peak in the Nara Basin represents the oldest stratum of Japanese spirituality, a form of...
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....
Mt. Asama
Komoro, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Mount Asama rises at the border of Nagano and Gunma Prefectures, Japan's most active volcano on Honshu....
Mt. Aso
Minamiaso, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
Mount Aso rises at the heart of Kyushu, its vast caldera containing farms, towns, and one of Japan's oldest shrines—all within the rim of a volcano that last erupted in...
Mt. Atago
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Rising 924 meters above Kyoto, Mount Atago has guarded the ancient capital from fire for over 1,300 years....
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. Nantai
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Mount Nantai rises 2,486 meters above the sacred landscape of Nikko, its near-perfect volcanic cone worshipped as the physical body of a kami since before recorded history....
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...
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....
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....
Nakayama-dera (中山寺)
Takarazuka, Takarazuka, Hyōgo, 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) (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....
Nankōbō (南光坊)
Imabari, Imabari, Ehime, 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 (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....
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....
Nichirin-ji
Daigo, Japan
Nichirin-ji sits on the eighth station of Mt. Yamizo, the highest peak in Ibaraki....
Nikkō Tōshō-gū
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Nikko Toshogu is the mausoleum and shrine of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the warlord who unified Japan and founded a dynasty that ruled for 300 years of peace....
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....
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...
Oka-dera (岡寺)
Asuka, Asuka, Nara, 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....
Okinoshima Island, Japan
Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
In the waters between Japan and Korea lies an island so sacred that women may never set foot on it, men may visit only one day per year after nude ocean purification, and...
Ōkubo-ji (大窪寺)
Sanuki, Sanuki, Kagawa, 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 (大御堂)
Tsukuba, 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...
Ōmori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Three thousand years ago, the Jomon people positioned this stone circle with extraordinary precision: on the shortest day of the year, the setting sun descends directly...
Showing 193-240 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.