Best Temples around Kansai Spot List

Spend your time comfortably in the visitor's lodging at a first-class ryokan

Twin Dragons created during the Heisei period watch over Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple

Featuring a garden created by Motonobu Kano

This imposing temple serves as a center for Shugendo asceticism

Fallen leaves on the road to the temple invite you to this high-status monzeki temple

Quietly praying to the rakan statues on the hillsides

A beautiful temple like the Pure Land itself that illustrates the prosperity of the Fujiwara regency during the late Heian Period.

A mortuary temple for the imperial household

A grand temple complex established on Mount Koya some 900 years ago

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

A temple built upon the request of Emperor Tenmu during the Hakuho Period. Reconstructed in recent years, the temple structures showcase beautiful, vibrant colors.

A vault of many national cultural artifacts from the Nara period

Legend has it that the temple buildings were built by Emperor Shomu. In addition to the exquisite Kamakura-Period-style Romon Gate (National Treasure) facing the old road, there is a Kamakura-Period-style thirteen-story pagoda (Important Cultural Property) towering at the center of the temple grounds. The temple is also famous for its cosmos flowers.

Established by Emperor Shirakawa during the Heian Period, the temple's name derives from the ingo (posthumous Buddhist name) of Yoshiakira Ashikaga, the second shogun of the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). While exploring the precinct, you'll find the graves of Yoshiakira and Masatsura Kusunoki, the busho (military commander) of Nancho (Southern Court) located next to each other. Masatsura was much respected by Yoshiakira even though he was an enemy general. During autumn, the maple leaves turn a striking red (visitors are not allowed to bring in a tripod stand or a unipod).

An inn within the temple complex

The Western Paradise of the Buddha Amida’s dazzling dream, a gold space that reflects upon a pond

The oldest surviving building of Todaiji Temple. All the Buddhist statues stored here are national treasures

The orderly lineup of 1001 thousand-armed Kannon is superb

A tea ceremony sanctuary that started as a gathering of artists

With ancient living and meditation quarters