Country guide
Japan sacred sites
One of the clearest countries in the atlas for combining pilgrimage routes, local temple networks, and major heritage destinations. Move between route logic and place logic.
Pilgrimage routes
10 circuits on Pilgrim Map. Each one threads many sites into one journey.
Kantō
Bandō Sanjūsankasho Pilgrimage
Thirty-three temples to Kannon across the eastern plain, a circuit of compassion shaped by twelfth-century warriors and walked still.
33 of 33 stations published
Shikoku
Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage
Eighty-eight temples around an island, a circuit walked beside Kūkai across thirteen centuries.
88 of 88 stations published
Kansai
Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage
The oldest Kannon circuit in Japan — thirty-three temples across western Honshu, walked since the eighth century.
36 of 33 stations published
Kansai
New Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage
A modern Kansai Kannon circuit organized in 1932 to make the old route walkable for working pilgrims.
38 of 33 stations published
Kantō
Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage
Thirty-four temples in a single Saitama valley — the third leg that makes the Hyakkasho complete.
34 of 34 stations published
Chūgoku
Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage
A modern Kannon circuit across western Honshu, established in 1981 to honor temples that lay outside the great medieval routes.
29 of 33 stations published
Wakayama Prefecture, Kii Peninsula
Kumano Kodo — Nakahechi and Kumano Sanzan
Sacred oji thresholds lead through the Kii mountains toward Kumano's three grand shrines, river, waterfall, and layered traditions of death, rebirth, and renewal.
8 of 8 stations published
Yamagata Prefecture
Dewa Sanzan Pilgrimage
Three sacred mountains encountered as present, past, and future in a living pilgrimage of symbolic death and rebirth.
3 of 3 stations published
Fujiyoshida and Mount Fuji, Yamanashi Prefecture
Mount Fuji Sacred Ascent — Yoshida Worship Route
Oshi lodging, the northern Sengen shrine, the mountain, and a summit sanctuary reveal Mount Fuji as a living ascent of worship rather than only a climb.
4 of 4 stations published
Kudoyama and Koyasan, Wakayama Prefecture
Koyasan Choishi-michi
Stone choishi lead from Jison-in through a shrine-linked mountain landscape to Daimon and Koyasan's great precincts.
7 of 7 stations published
Representative sites
A short selection of Japanese sacred places from the atlas.
Akagi Shrine
Shinjuku City, Tokyo, Japan
Akagi Shrine (赤城神社) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference evidence,...
Akasaka Hikawa Shrine
Minato City, Tokyo, Japan
Akasaka Hikawa Shrine (赤坂氷川神社) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or...
Akechi-ji
Yokoze, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Akechi-ji is the ninth station of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage in Yokoze, Saitama....
Akita Seibo no Sono
Yuzawadai, Akita Prefecture, Japan
In the hills of Yuzawadai outside Akita City, the Institute of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist preserves a wooden statue of Mary that,...
Akyū Ruins
Hara, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Six thousand years ago, the Jomon people gathered here to tend sacred fires beneath the gaze of Mount Tateshina....
Amanoiwato Shrine
Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
In a forested gorge in Kyushu's Takachiho region, pilgrims have gathered for centuries at the cave where Amaterasu, the sun goddess and ancestress of Japan's Imperial...
An'yō-in
Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
An'yō-in is the third station of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho — a small Jōdo-shū temple in Kamakura founded as Hōjō Masako's grief-prayer for her husband Minamoto no Yoritomo,...
Ana-hachimangu Shrine
Shinjuku City, Tokyo, Japan
Ana-hachimangu Shrine (穴八幡宮) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...
Anamori Inari Shrine
Ota City, Tokyo, Japan
Anamori Inari Shrine (穴守稲荷神社) is an active Shinto sacred place in Tokyo. The record is grounded in an exact Google Place ID, nearby coordinates, institutional or reference...