Country guide
Japan
Japan's sacred geography layers Shinto shrine landscapes, Buddhist temple networks, mountain ascetic practice, island pilgrimage, and urban devotional sites.
508 sacred sites across 43 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.
Buddhism · Shikoku
Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage
四国八十八ヶ所霊場
Eighty-eight temples around an island, a circuit walked beside Kūkai across thirteen centuries.
88 mapped places in Japan · 88-station pilgrimage
Buddhism · Kansai
New Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage
新西国三十三所
A modern Kansai Kannon circuit organized in 1932 to make the old route walkable for working pilgrims.
38 mapped places in Japan · 33 numbered stations + auxiliary places
Buddhism · Kansai
Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage
西国三十三所
The oldest Kannon circuit in Japan — thirty-three temples across western Honshu, walked since the eighth century.
36 mapped places in Japan · 33 numbered stations + auxiliary places
Buddhism · Kantō
Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage
秩父三十四観音霊場
Thirty-four temples in a single Saitama valley — the third leg that makes the Hyakkasho complete.
34 mapped places in Japan · 34-station pilgrimage
Buddhism · Kantō
Bandō Sanjūsankasho Pilgrimage
坂東三十三観音霊場
Thirty-three temples to Kannon across the eastern plain, a circuit of compassion shaped by twelfth-century warriors and walked still.
33 mapped places in Japan · 33-station pilgrimage
Buddhism · Chūgoku
Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage
中国三十三観音霊場
A modern Kannon circuit across western Honshu, established in 1981 to honor temples that lay outside the great medieval routes.
29 mapped places in Japan · 33-station pilgrimage
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Traditions
Physical forms
Dates connected to Japan
Upcoming festivals, feast days, and pilgrimages tied to Japan. Add any to your calendar, or see the full observance calendar.
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Kamiari-sai (Festival of the Gods)
Nov 29 – Sun, Dec 6, 2026Festival
Izumo Taisha (Izumo Grand Shrine)
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Related Japan guides
Showing 385-432 of 508 sites in this country guide
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan
Sensō-ji, the Asakusa Kannon, is the thirteenth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage and Tokyo's oldest temple....
Senyū-ji
Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan
Senyū-ji crowns Mt. Sakurei south of Imabari, the 58th temple of the Shikoku 88....
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...
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
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
Katsushika City, Tokyo, Japan
Shibamata Taishakuten (柴又帝釈天) is an active Nichiren Buddhism sacred place in Tokyo....
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
Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Shimabu-ji is the first temple of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Saitama, Japan....
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
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....
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
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
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
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...
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
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
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...
Shōfuku-ji
Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
Sashiro-san Shōfuku-ji is the 23rd Bandō station, a temple whose continuity has survived two complete physical destructions. The founding legend tells of a hunter on Mt....
Shōfuku-ji
Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Shōfuku-ji — popularly known as Iizumi Kannon — is the fifth station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho and one of the most active Shingon Kannon temples in Kanagawa....
Shōhō-ji (Iwama-dera)
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Shōhō-ji (Iwama-dera) is station 12 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Shingon-shū Daigoji-ha temple in Shiga dedicated to Senju Kannon....
Shōin Shrine
Setagaya City, Tokyo, Japan
Shōin Shrine (松陰神社) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference evidence,...
Shōkoku-ji
Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Shōkoku-ji at Mount Myōhō — known for over a millennium as Hoshi-no-ya Kannon, the Valley of Stars Kannon — gathers folk-mystical phenomena around a Sacred Kannon honzon....
Shōkoku-ji (Kyoto)
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
The Zen monastery behind Kyoto’s Golden and Silver Pavilions. Shōkoku-ji (Kyoto) remains an active Rinzai Zen Buddhism, Shōkoku-ji school temple....
Shōraku-ji (Senjū-in)
Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Shōraku-ji, also known as Senju-in, sits on a low hill in Bizen and serves as Temple #3 of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage. The honzon is a hibutsu Eleven-Faced Kannon....
Shōrin-ji
Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Shōrin-ji, fifteenth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, is a Rinzai Zen temple of the Kenchō-ji branch on the historic Banba-machi neighbourhood of central...
Shōryū-ji
Tosa, Kochi Prefecture, Japan
Shōryū-ji is the thirty-sixth stop on the Shikoku 88, set on the Yokonami Peninsula above Uranouchi Bay in Tosa City....
Shōsan-ji
Kamiyama, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan
Shōsan-ji stands at 706 metres on Mt. Shōsan-ji in Kamiyama, the second-highest temple of the Shikoku 88 and the first nansho or 'difficult place' on the route....
Shusshakaji
Zentsūji, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
Temple 73 Shusshakaji sits at the foot of Mt Gahaishi in Zentsūji City, Kagawa. The legend here is intimate: a seven-year-old boy named Mao — later Kūkai — leapt from a...
Sōji-ji
Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Sōji-ji is station 22 on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a Kōyasan Shingon-shū temple in Osaka dedicated to Senju Kannon....
Sonohyan-utaki
Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
At the threshold of Shuri Castle, a coral limestone gate opens onto a sacred grove that cannot be entered....
Sōrin-ji
Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
Sōrin-ji — Shōkō-zan Sōrin-ji — is a Tang-Chinese-founded temple (777 CE) re-established in 1670 as the bodhi-temple of the Fukuhara clan, chief retainers of the Mōri...
St. Ignatius Catholic Church
Kōjimachi, Tokyo, Japan
St. Ignatius Catholic Church (カトリック麹町 聖イグナチオ教会) is an active Roman Catholic Christianity sacred place in Tokyo....
St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo
Bunkyo City, Tokyo, Japan
St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo (東京カテドラル聖マリア大聖堂) is an active Roman Catholic Christianity sacred place in Tokyo....
Sugimoto-dera
Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Sugimoto-dera is the first station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho — Kamakura's oldest Buddhist temple, where three Eleven-Headed Kannon statues from successive Heian centuries...
Suisen-ji
Minano, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Suisen-ji — Nittaku-san Suisen-ji — is the 34th and final station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage and the kechigan-jo (結願所, 'place where the vow is fulfilled') of...
Suishō-ji (Daishō-in)
Miyajima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Daishō-in — full classical name Takizan Suiseiji Daishōin (also Suishō-ji), commonly called Miyajima Daishō-in — is the daihonzan (head temple) of the Omuro branch of...
Suitengu Shrine
Chuo City, Tokyo, Japan
Suitengu Shrine (水天宮) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...
Suma-dera
Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
Suma-dera, formally Joya-san Fukushō-ji, is the head temple (daihonzan) of its own Shingon sub-school — the Shingon-shū Sumadera-ha — and the principal site of Heike...
Sumiyoshi Jinja
Chuo City, Tokyo, Japan
Sumiyoshi Jinja (住吉神社（佃）) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...
Sumiyoshi-taisha
Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
When Izanagi purified himself in the sea after his journey to the underworld, three deities emerged from the waters—the Sumiyoshi Sanjin, gods of the sea who have...
Showing 385-432 of 508 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 508 sites organized by region and tradition.
Which traditions are represented in Japan?
The most represented traditions include Buddhism, Shinto, Shingon Buddhism, Christianity, Tendai Buddhism, Kumano Shinto, Buddhism, and Shugendō.
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.