Best Architecture around Kansai Spot List

A shrine famous for its ”Wedded Rocks”

The main training center for Shingon Esoteric Buddhism with its iconic five-story pagoda, the key landmark of Kyoto's scenery. The temple is known as ”Daishi's temple.”

The nation’s head Koyasan Shingon-shu temple

The graceful standing statue of Gigeiten is a must-see attraction

A unique, symmetrical building

The head shrine of all the Inari-jinja shrines across Japan. Its approximately 1,000 photogenic torii gates (an archway to a Shinto shrine) attract many visitors.

A Zen temple of the Rinzai School built in the scenic area of Arashimaya in Kyoto. It was built by Takauji Ashikaga in memory of the recently deceased Emperor Go-Daigo.

Famous for its early blossoming cherry trees, which signify the coming of spring

Where the successful Hideyoshi Toyotomi worshipped the three-faced Daikokuten

A little-known temple hidden deep in the mountains

Founded in 1895 for the 1,100th anniversary of the relocation of the capital city to the Heian-kyo, the shrine reproduces the Imperial Palace of the Heian-kyo. It enshrines Emperor Kanmu and Emperor Komei.

Enshrines Japan's top Shinto deity

A massive triple gate welcomes you to the head temple for the Obaku sect of Zen Buddhism

The scattered fallen leaves in autumn are beautiful

A temple that has long protected Arima Onsen

One of Kyoto's most renowned temples, located on the side of Mt. Otowa in the Higishiyama Range. It has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A guardian deity of water with miraculous virtue worshipped since ancient times. The shrine has been worshipped for better luck marriage by countless people through the ages, including nobles.

Successive generations of emperors lived at the site of these historical remains

Pray for good health and matchmaking at this shrine built for subduing an epidemic

Enjoy the burning red foliage in autumn and the cherry blossoms and rhododendrons in spring