All countries

Country guide

Japan

Japan's sacred geography layers Shinto shrine landscapes, Buddhist temple networks, mountain ascetic practice, island pilgrimage, and urban devotional sites.

545 sacred sites across 64 regions. Use the tradition links to narrow in.

Sacred journeys

Pilgrimages in Japan

Follow routes that connect sacred places across Japan. Mapped-place counts reflect the current atlas. Showing 6 of 10 mapped routes.

View all 10 in Japan

Browse by region

Explore Japan region by region

Open a regional guide to see its sacred sites, traditions, and map.

Show all 63 regions

Explore Japan by facet

Dates connected to Japan

Upcoming festivals, feast days, and pilgrimages tied to Japan. Add any to your calendar, or see the full observance calendar.

Showing 385-432 of 545 sites in this country guide

Saidai-ji (Okayama)
Buddhism

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...

Saidouji Temple
Buddhism

Saidouji Temple

Niimi, Okayama, Japan

Saidouji is a Soto Buddhist temple in the mountains of Niimi, known for its Koyasu Kannon and prayers for childbirth....

Saigoku-ji (Sōji-in)
Buddhism

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....

Saihō-ji
UNESCORinzai Zen Buddhism

Saihō-ji

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Scripture before moss in a garden formed by Zen attention. Saihō-ji remains an active Rinzai Zen Buddhism temple....

Saihoin
Buddhism

Saihoin

Osaka Prefecture, 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...

Saikō-ji
Buddhism

Saikō-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Saikō-ji, sixteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Shingon Buzan-ha temple whose Senju (Thousand-Armed) Kannon is traditionally attributed to the Nara...

Saimyō-ji
Buddhism

Saimyō-ji

Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Saimyō-ji, station 20 of the Bandō Kannon pilgrimage, sits on the wooded slopes of Mt. Tokkō east of Mashiko....

Sairin-ji
Buddhism

Sairin-ji

Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Sairin-ji is the forty-eighth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage and the Sekisho of Iyo, the spiritual checkpoint of the Iyo (Ehime) leg of the four-province circuit....

Saizen-ji
Buddhism

Saizen-ji

Yokoze, Saitama Prefecture, 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....

Sakafuneishi Site
Shinto

Sakafuneishi Site

Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan

In the hills of Asuka, Japan's ancient capital, water once flowed through a turtle-shaped stone basin in ceremonies conducted for Empress Saimei nearly fourteen centuries...

Sakami-ji
Buddhism

Sakami-ji

Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Izumi-shōzan Sagami-ji in Kasai, Hyōgo, was founded by imperial command in 745 after the priest Gyōki received an oracle from Sagami Myōjin, a local kami in the Sumiyoshi...

Sakitsu Village
UNESCOHidden Christian and Roman Catholic traditions

Sakitsu Village

Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

Sakitsu Village, stands in Amakusa. At Sakitsu Village, Hidden Christian and Roman Catholic traditions guides custody....

Sanbutsu-ji
Buddhism

Sanbutsu-ji

Misasa, Tottori Prefecture, Japan

Sanbutsu-ji, the 31st station of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, sits on Mt. Mitoku in Misasa, Tottori....

Sankaku-ji
Buddhism

Sankaku-ji

Shikokuchūō, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Sankaku-ji sits at roughly 450 metres above the industrial coast of Shikokuchūō, the sixty-fifth temple of the Shikoku 88 and the last of twenty-six temples in Ehime....

Sannai-Maruyama Site
Shinto

Sannai-Maruyama Site

Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan

For seventeen centuries, the Jomon people lived at Sannai-Maruyama, cultivating chestnuts, trading jade across hundreds of kilometers, and building structures that still...

Sanuki Kokubun-ji
Buddhism

Sanuki Kokubun-ji

Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, 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...

Sanzen-in
Tendai Buddhism

Sanzen-in

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Amida devotion held within the moss and streams of Ohara. Sanzen-in remains an active Tendai Buddhism temple....

Satake-ji
Buddhism

Satake-ji

Hitachiōta, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Satake-ji is the 22nd Bandō station and the spiritual ward of the medieval Satake clan....

Sefa-utaki
UNESCORyukyuan religion

Sefa-utaki

Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Sefa-utaki, stands in Nanjo. At Sefa-utaki, Ryukyuan religion guides custody. Prayer at Sefa-utaki addresses Ryukyuan ancestral and divine presences associated with the....

Sefuku-ji
Buddhism

Sefuku-ji

Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Sefuku-ji is station 4 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Tendai Buddhism, Katsuragi Shugendō / Mountain ascetic tradition temple in Osaka dedicated to Senju Kannon....

Seigan-ji
Buddhism

Seigan-ji

Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Seigan-ji is the head temple (sōhonzan) of the Jōdo Seizan Fukakusa branch, founded in Nara in 667 CE and relocated in 1591 to Kyoto's Shinkyōgoku entertainment district....

Seiganto-ji
Buddhism

Seiganto-ji

Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

Seiganto-ji stands at the head of the Saigoku 33-temple pilgrimage and at the foot of Nachi Falls, Japan's tallest single-drop cascade....

Seigantoji (Seiganto Temple)
Buddhism

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...

Sekkei-ji
Buddhism

Sekkei-ji

Kōchi, Kochi Prefecture, Japan

Sekkei-ji is the thirty-third stop on the Shikoku 88, founded by Kūkai in the early ninth century and later converted to Rinzai Zen as the bodaiji of the Chōsokabe warlord...

Sengaku-ji
Buddhism

Sengaku-ji

Minato City, Tokyo, Japan

Sengaku-ji (泉岳寺) is an active Soto Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Senkō-ji
Buddhism

Senkō-ji

Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Senkō-ji — full name Daihōzan Gongen-in Senkō-ji — clings to the mid-slope of Mt. Senkō above Onomichi harbor....

Sennyū-ji
Shingon Buddhism, Sennyū-ji school

Sennyū-ji

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Buddhist worship and imperial memorial care at the Mitera. Sennyū-ji remains an active Shingon Buddhism, Sennyū-ji school temple....

Sensō-ji
Buddhism

Sensō-ji

Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan

Sensō-ji, the Asakusa Kannon, is the thirteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage and Tokyo's oldest temple....

Senyū-ji
Buddhism

Senyū-ji

Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Senyū-ji crowns Mt. Sakurei south of Imabari, the 58th temple of the Shikoku 88....

Setagaya Hachiman-gu
Shinto

Setagaya Hachiman-gu

Setagaya City, Tokyo, Japan

Setagaya Hachiman-gu (世田谷八幡宮) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Shasui Falls
Esoteric Buddhism and mountain asceticism

Shasui Falls

Yamakita, Kanagawa, Japan

Shasui Falls in Yamakita is remembered as a place of Buddhist water austerities....

Shiba Daijingū
Shinto

Shiba Daijingū

Minato City, Tokyo, Japan

Shiba Daijingū (芝大神宮) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Shiba-Toshogu Shrine
Shinto

Shiba-Toshogu Shrine

Minato City, Tokyo, Japan

Shiba-Toshogu Shrine (芝東照宮) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Shibamata Taishakuten
Buddhism

Shibamata Taishakuten

Katsushika City, Tokyo, Japan

Shibamata Taishakuten (柴又帝釈天) is an active Nichiren Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Shido-ji
Buddhism

Shido-ji

Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Shido-ji stands beside Shido Bay on the Sanuki coast as the eighty-sixth temple of the Shikoku circuit....

Shimabu-ji
Buddhism

Shimabu-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Shimabu-ji is the first temple of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Saitama, Japan....

Shimogamo-jinja Shrine
UNESCOShinto

Shimogamo-jinja Shrine

Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Kamo worship carried through Tadasu no Mori and ritual water. Shimogamo-jinja Shrine remains an active Shinto shrine....

Shimpuku-ji
Buddhism

Shimpuku-ji

Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, 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....

Shin-Yakushi-ji
Buddhism

Shin-Yakushi-ji

Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan

Shin-Yakushi-ji in Nara is a Buddhist temple whose main hall centres on Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha, surrounded by protective divine generals....

Shinagawa Shrine
Shinto

Shinagawa Shrine

Shinagawa City, Tokyo, Japan

Shinagawa Shrine (品川神社) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...

Shinobazu no Ike Bentendō
Buddhism

Shinobazu no Ike Bentendō

Taito City, Tokyo, Japan

Shinobazu no Ike Bentendō (不忍池辯天堂) is an active Japanese Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....

Shinshō-ji
Buddhism

Shinshō-ji

Muroto, Kochi Prefecture, 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....

Shiofune Kannon-ji
Buddhism

Shiofune Kannon-ji

Ome, Tokyo, Japan

Shiofune Kannon-ji (塩船観音寺) is an active Shingon Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or...

Shiraito no Taki, Fujinomiya
Fuji-kō mountain devotion

Shiraito no Taki, Fujinomiya

Shizuoka, Japan

At Shiraito no Taki in Fujinomiya, Mount Fuji's sacred geography extends beyond the summit to water emerging along a broad cliff....

Shirataki Falls, Toba
Japanese ascetic traditions

Shirataki Falls, Toba

Mie, Japan

Shirataki in Toba is part of a mountain honored as the presence of Shirataki Daimyōjin....

Shiromine-ji
Buddhism

Shiromine-ji

Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Shiromine-ji sits at 280 metres on a forested ridge of the Goshikidai plateau in Kagawa, the eighty-first temple of the Shikoku circuit....

Shitennō-ji
Buddhism

Shitennō-ji

Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Shitennō-ji stands at the institutional headwaters of Japanese Buddhism. Founded in 593 CE by Prince Shōtoku after his clan's victory secured Buddhism a place in the new...

Shōbō-ji
Buddhism

Shōbō-ji

Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Shōbō-ji on Mount Iwadono, known for thirteen centuries as Iwadono Kannon, began as a single rock-cave hermitage where the shugendō ascetic Itsumi enshrined a Senju Kannon...

Showing 385-432 of 545 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 545 sites organized by region and tradition.

Which traditions are represented in Japan?

The most represented traditions include Buddhism, Shinto, Shingon Buddhism, Christianity, Shinto / Buddhism, Tendai 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.