Temple Spots in Kanagawa Area

Area

Kanagawa
- Japan
- Hokkaido / Tohoku
  
  Hokkaido
  
  Aomori
  
  Iwate
  
  Miyagi
  
  Akita
  
  Yamagata
  
  Fukushima
- Kanto
  
  Ibaraki
  
  Tochigi
  
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  Saitama
  
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  Kanagawa
- Koshinetsu / Hokuriku
  
  Niigata
  
  Toyama
  
  Ishikawa
  
  Fukui
  
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  Nagano
- Tokai
  
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  Aichi
  
  Mie
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  Shiga
  
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  Osaka
  
  Hyogo
  
  Nara
  
  Wakayama
- Chugoku
  
  Tottori
  
  Shimane
  
  Okayama
  
  Hiroshima
  
  Yamaguchi
- Shikoku
  
  Tokushima
  
  Kagawa
  
  Ehime
  
  Kochi
- Kyushu / Okinawa
  
  Fukuoka
  
  Saga
  
  Nagasaki
  
  Kumamoto
  
  Oita
  
  Miyazaki
  
  Kagoshima
  
  Okinawa

Category

Travel / Tourism

History / Culture / Tour

Temple

Kaizoji Temple

4.5

54 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Ogigayatsu 4-18-8

Located in Ogigayatsu, Kamakura City, this is a temple belonging to the Rinzai Buddhist School’s Kenchoji sect. Its honorific mountain name is Senkokuzan. It was built in 1253 by Fujiwara no Nakayoshi who had received an order from Prince Munetaka, and was destroyed by fire when the Kamakura shogunate lost power. It is said that the temple was restored in 1394 by Uesugi Ujisada under the command of Ashikaga Ujimitsu, inviting the priest Shinsho Kugai to take occupancy. It is well-known as a temple with flowers blooming in profusion amidst each season, including flowering crab apple, hydrangea, Chinese bellflower, Chinese trumpet vine, Japanese maple and Japanese clover. Located in a cavern behind the Yakushido is the Soko-nuke-no-ido, one of the Kamakura Jissei (the ten wells of Kamakura) with 16 round holes from which water is flowing.

The temple is great and worth a visit. I especially liked the employees working there. They put a lot of effort and seem to enjoy their work. Fantastic to watch.
Kakuonji Temple

4.5

52 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Nikaidou 421

Located in Nikaido, Kamakura City, this is a temple belonging to the Shingon Buddhist School’s Sennyuji sect. Its honorific mountain name is Jubuzan. The temple originated from the Okura Yakushido built in 1218 by Yoshitoki Hojo, the second regent to the Kamakura shogunate. According to temple legend it was converted in 1296 into a Buddhist temple with Chikai Shine as its founding priest by the ninth regent Sadatoki Hojo, who had prayed that the third Mongol invasion would be repulsed. The lush green temples grounds have been designated as a national historic site, and the atmosphere of the Kamakura period is conveyed to the present. It is prohibited to move about freely on the premises and visitors may only see the temple under the guidance of a priest at designated times. Photography is prohibited during the visit.

Very calm place in a quiet neighborhood. There are some other temples around as well. If youre looking for peace and silence, this is it
Taya Caves

4.0

44 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Yokohamashi Sakae-ku Tayachou 1501

The Taya Caves belong to the Josen-ji Temple, a Shingon Buddhist temple which was founded in Japan’s Muromachi period. The caves are said to have first been opened up in the Kamakura period, and the walls are carved with images of the great monk Kukai and the principle objects of worship in pilgrimage sites throughout Shikoku, Saigoku, Bando, and Chichibu. Pay a small fee to receive a traditional “yuraisho” documenting the history of the temple and a votive candle, after which you may follow a 300 meter long path to a worship site. As you engage in quiet and solemn prayer in the caves, you will begin to feel their long history. Closest station: Ofuna Station.

Cave is unfortunately only partly open to the public, but is very impressive that the monks over many years build such a laerge cave for prayers and meditation. You receive a candle for lichting but...
Hokai-ji Temple

3.5

46 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Komachi 3-5-22

This Buddhist temple was founded by Ashikaga Takauji on the orders of Emperor Go-Daigo in order to appease the souls of the Hojo clan, which was dissolved in 1333. Built on the site of a Hojo clan estate, the temple later developed into a center of education and cultivation. Even today, the detached Korin-an hermitage is open for use for sutra copying. The hermitage is equipped with the necessary materials, and visitors can readily come here to engage in sutra copying themselves. During the equinoctial week of Buddhist services, the grounds are covered with white bush clover, resulting in the temple’s nickname, the “Bush Clover Temple.”

I took a bus from Sugimoto-Kannon Busstop and got off at Daigakumae Busstop. I had visited the start of the Kamakura Shogunate and was heading to the end of it. Hokai-ji Temple was founded by...
Zuiozan Renge-in Gumyoji (Gumyoji Kannon)

3.5

35 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Yokohamashi Minami-ku Gumyoujichou 267

The Japanese government has designated Gumyoji, a temple in Yokohama's Minami Ward, an Important Cultural Property. Worshipers visit it to pray for the safety of their homes and families, success in business, and protection from bad luck. On days of the month that contain an 8, an event called the Festival of the Eleven-Faced Kannon is held, in which people pray for recovery from illness or fulfillment of their most earnest desires. On days of the month that contain a 3, people who want to find a marriage partner or have children come to the Festival of Daishokangiten, the Japanese name for the Hindu god Ganesha.

かつてはこの坂の上にある弘明寺が大地のヘリでそこから先の下ったところは海だったのだろうと想像できる高さです。京急電車から近く、桜の季節は混んでいます。
Hinatayakushi Hokibo

4.0

40 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Iseharashi Hinata 1644

This is a Koyasan Shingon sect Buddhist temple located in Hinata, Isehara City of Kanagawa. Besides the Yakushi triad statues comprising the principal deities, the Amidanyorai, the four devas, and the twelve divine generals are all located in the sanctuary and are Important National Cultural Properties. Every year on April 15, the annual spring Shunki Reitaisai Festival is held when the sanctuary is open to the public, the gomadaki stick burning, and the Shugendo mountain ascetic ceremonies are held.

ハイキングコースの中間地点に当たるようでハイカーのひとたちがいました。広い境内にある大きなかやぶき屋根は見事でした。
Kosoku-ji Temple

4.0

39 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Hase 3-9-7

A Nichiren Buddhist temple located near the Hase-dera Temple in Kamakura’s Hase neighborhood. After Nichiren’s exile to Sado was ended, Yadoya Mitsunori, who had been set to watch Nichiren’s top disciple, Nichiro, turned his own home into a temple, which was then recognized as a Nichiren temple by Nichiro. “Kosoku” is another way to read the name “Mitsunori,” thus giving rise to the temple’s name. In the back of the grounds visitors can find Yadoya’s grave and the dungeon where Nichiro was confined. The grounds are filled with plants, including a Hall crabapple tree over 200 years old, French hydrangeas, cherry trees, wisteria, and Japanese irises, and the temple is considered one of the best temples for flower viewing in all Kamakura.

花海棠が見たくて4月10日に訪れました入場料は100円、8時から17時です鉢植えも含めて境内には花木がたくさんありましたかなりこじんまりしていますが、花の寺と呼ばれるのも頷けますねまあ100円なりの庭園という感じですお目当ての花海棠は落葉気味でしたが、なんとか鑑賞できました花以外にも雉小屋や周回できる池もあり、詰め込みすぎですなお、寺の前の細い道にあるコインパーキング（3台）を...
Sounji Temple

3.5

45 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Ashigarashimogunhakonemachi Yumoto 405

This temple, of Rinzai sect’s Daitokuji school located in Hakone Town, Ashigarashimo County, Kanagawa Prefecture, is the family temple of the Japanese military commander during the Sengoku (Warring States) period, Hojo Soun. It is said that the temple was built in 1521 by Soun’s son, Ujitsuna, in line with Soun’s dying wishes. It burned to the ground when Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked Odawara, but it was rebuilt to its former glory in 1627. In the grounds of the temple are the graves of five generations of the Hojo family, Lords of Odawara castle, as well as the remains of the dry landscape gardens said to be created by Hojo Nagatsuna. Every year in early November the temple treasures are specially opened to the public.

北条早雲（本人は「伊勢...
Hongaku-ji Temple

3.5

37 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Komachi 1-12-12

A five-minute walk from the East Exit of JR Kamakura Station. Ashikaga Mochiuji built then donated to the priest Nisshutsu this temple on the site of the Ebisu-do where Nichiren stayed at after returning from his exile to Sado before moving on to the Minobusan Kunon-ji Temple. Because the temple houses some of the ashes of Nichiren from the Kuon-ji Temple, it is also known as the Kuon-ji of the East. The graveyard on the temple’s grounds contains a stone monument said to be the grave of the renowned swordsmith Okazaki Goro Masamune.

鎌倉は鎌倉時代に日蓮上人が幕府の置かれていた鎌倉で辻説法していたエリアです。元々は源頼朝が幕府の裏鬼門に建てた天台宗のお寺でしたが、佐渡に流されて帰還した日蓮上人が此方に逗留して辻説法に出ていたとの事で日蓮宗に。
Chokokuji Temple (Iiyama Kannon)

4.0

31 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Atsugishi Iyama 5605

This is a Koyasan Shingon sect temple located in Iiyama, Atsugi City of Kanagawa. The bronze bell, the Kannon sanctum, the 400 year old yew plum pine tree are all Important Cultural Properties of the prefecture and the city. The sanctum houses the standing eleven faced Kannon bosatsu, also called the Iiyama Kannon, said to be a deity for marital unions. In the spring, the cherry tree lined boulevard is a well-known spot for cherry blossoms in Atsugi City, and bustles with blossom viewing visitors.

厚木市内林中学校近くの道を川沿いに丹沢の方へ向かって走ると、飯山観音の入口交差点があります。その先すぐが駐車場ですが、ハイキングコースの入口でもあるので有料です。いきなりの石段ですが、登った先からの厚木市内の眺めは見応えがあります。御朱印は左手の執務所でいただけます。
Myohoji Temple

4.5

29 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Omachi 4-7-4

The beautiful moss covered stone steps within Myohoji Temple have earned it the nickname Kokedera Temple (Moss Temple). In spring come see the beautiful blooming winter daphne, cherry blossoms, and Japanese irises, while in the summer the Chinese bellflower and cotton rose are blooming, and in the winter daffodils. If you apply in advance you can partake in a Buddhist sermon but please remember to be respectful as this is a working temple. On the grounds are many other monuments worth seeing, such as a memorial stone for Matsuba Valley Hermit Spirits, Hokyoin-to pagoda (the grave of Moriyoshi Shinno), stones with haiku poems by Kawaminami Shouji and Hoshino Tatsuko, and an Ohgizuka (fan mound).

夏期は土日祝日しか苔階段等の重要文化財は拝見出来ません。本堂へのお参りは可能です。日蓮上人から5代後の日叡上人が建立日叡。日叡上人は護良親王の子供
Anyoin Temple

3.5

30 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Omachi 3-1-22

This is a Jodoshu (Pure Land sect of Buddhism) temple in Omachi, Kamakura City. Its honorific mountain name is Gionzan while its temple name is Chorakuji Temple. Chorakuji, the predecessor of the current temple, was built in Hase by Hojo Masako to pray for the soul of her husband Yoritomo, yet it was destroyed by fire due to war in 1333. It was moved to its current location, and the temple name was changed to Masako’s posthumous Buddhist name of Anyoin. On the premises are a giant yew plum pine tree that is more than 700 years old and Masako’s grave, which is marked by a small hokyointo stone pagoda. It is well-known as a famous place to see azaleas and in May the flowers of Omurasaki azalea are in full bloom.

The temple is beautiful and relaxing. I visited also the grave of Akira Kurosawa that moved me a lot.
Ankokuronji Temple

4.0

20 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Omachi 4-4-18

This temple began when the priest Nichiren built Ankokuronkutsuji temple close to a cave while writing his Rissho Ankoku Ron treatise. Many historic sites still remain such as the cave where Nichiren took refuge when the hermitage of Matsubagayatsu was set afire due its use as a base for proselytizing. Ankokuronji Temple is also famous for its beautiful flowers on the temple grounds that bloom in each season including peach and cherry trees and hydrangea.

安房国で立教開宗した日蓮上人が当時の政治中心の鎌倉で庵を結んだ場所。法華経の開祖。1260年に当地岩屋で立正安国論を書き上げ当時の執権北条時頼に建白した。日蓮上人が毎日富士山に向かって法華経を唱えた場所が富士見台で、市内から相模湾を一望出来ます。
Enoshima Daishi Temple

3.5

41 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Fujisawashi Enoshima 2-4-10

A Shingon Buddhist temple located on the island of Enoshima. Enoshima Daishi Temple was founded in 1993 on the site of the previously demolished Enoshima-kan inn as the Kanto branch temple of the Saifuku-ji Temple in Kagoshima Prefecture. The temple’s principal object of worship is a figure of Acala. Located in the main temple building, the solemn red statue stands six meters tall, making it one of the largest indoor depictions of Acala in Japan. Goma ceremonies, in which cedar wood is burned before the figure of Acala, are held periodically, and visitors can come to consult with priests and receive Goma ashes and purifying salts.

Nosotros nos acercamos a ver que era, ya que la verdad a priori no vimos que fuera un templo budista. Nada mas entrar a mano izquierda encontramos un pequeño pero hermoso temizu. Seguidamente de las...
Hataage Benzaiten Shrine

3.5

30 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Yukinoshita 2-1-31 Tsuruoka in Hachiman

Hataage Benzaiten-sha Shrine is a precinct shrine built on an island in Genji Pond near San-no-torii (the third torii gate), within the precincts of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. According to an anecdote, Benzaiten appeared to Minamoto no Yoritomo as a guardian deity when he raised his army, and it is said that he built the shrine to show his respect to Benzaiten. Today, the Genji clan flags, which has a pattern of two lines, are hoisted around the shrine, and many worshippers pray for blessings for career success in life in connection with hata-age (literally means raising a flag but also means raising an army or launching business) of the Genji clan. Behind the shrine grounds is Masako Iwa, a rock on which Minamoto no Yoritomo prayed for the safe delivery of Masako, and is said to be a prayer stone for harmonious marriage.

鶴岡八幡宮の社殿に向かって右手（東）の源氏池。ここの中島に旗上弁財天社が浮かぶように鎮座しています。
Chokozan Shotaiji Temple

4.0

27 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Odawara-shi Iryuda 303

Founded by the famous priest Tetsugyu who studied under the Zen master Ingen at Obakusan Manpukuji Temple in Uji, Kyoto. In 1669 the second feudal lord Inaba Minonokami Masanori had it moved to its present location from Yamakaku-cho below Odawara Castle. There are many things to see at the temple like the graves of the Inaba clan and Kasuga no Tsubone, a pagoda dedicated to Tetsugyu, and the Chokozan weeping cherry tree.

コロナで公園などで歩けない時に訪れました。駐車場も無料で誰も居ませでした。稲葉一族の墓所も趣が有りました。元気に運動しながら歴史を学べます。
Jinmuji Temple

4.0

15 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Zushi-shi Numama 2-1402

In 724, Emperor Shomu ordered the Buddhist priest Gyoki to carve and enshrine 11-headed Kanzeon, Yakushi Nyorai, and Shaka Nyorai statues here. The temple was founded as a place to pray for the safety of the Emperor, national peace, and the prosperity of the people. During the Showa and Heisei periods, the approach to the temple was improved and the Yakushido sanctuary was renovated. This temple retains vestiges of mountain worship, rare today in Zushi and Kamakura. The temple continues to proclaim the Buddhist teachings today. Its 400-year-old woodland elaecarpus tree has been selected as one of the 100 most important trees in the prefecture.

Hidden in a forest on a mountainside at the far reaches of Zushi this is a beautiful temple complex with extensive grounds. It is well worth the hike down the country lane and path up.
Manpuku-ji Temple

3.5

24 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Koshigoe 2-4-8

A Shingon Daikaku-ji Temple Buddhist temple located in the Koshigoe neighborhood of Kamakura City. The temple was founded in 744 by the priest Gyoki. The temple is known for being the place that Minamoto no Yoshitsune stayed at temporarily when he came to Kamakura to make amends with his brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo, with whom he had been in conflict. Yoshitsune also wrote a letter to his brother during his stay here. Because the temple was located in the Koshigoe area of Sagami Province, this letter is known as the “Koshigoe Letter,” and a rough draft of it is displayed on the temple grounds. The grounds are filled with a variety of other related historic artifacts and sites, such as the pond from which Yoshitsune scooped water to grind the ink for his letter, a stone on which the warrior monk and servant of Yoshitsune Benkei sat, and a stone Benkei lifted to test his strength.

Lovely little Buddhist temple at the back of Koshigoe. Historically important in the Kamakura era. Home to some lovely traiditional art of the sliding doors and modernistic heavenly representation on...
Yakuoji Temple

4.0

18 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Kamakura-shi Ogigayatsu 3-5-1

The temple is associated with the Tokugawa and Gamo families, and is home to Yakuo Bosatsu (Bodhisattva of the Anti-Poisonous Medicine), and was founded by Higo Acharya Nichizo, a Buddhist priest.

鎌倉駅から亀ケ谷切通へ向う道から横道に入り、坂を上った所にあります。元は夜行寺という真言宗のお寺でしたが、1283年に日像上人が日蓮宗に改宗、薬王寺に改称したと伝えられています。薬王寺は徳川家ゆかりのお寺で、徳川家斉の命で作られた日蓮聖人像、三つ葉葵紋がある徳川忠長の供養塔がありました。その他にも、釈迦堂や鐘楼、動物供養納骨墓などのほか、奥の岩壁にやぐらが掘られていて石塔や石仏があるなど、見...
Komyo-ji Temple

4.5

4 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Kanagawa Pref. Kamakurashi Zaimokuza 6-17-19

The head temple of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism, the Komyo-ji Temple is located close to the Zaimokuza Coast. The temple was founded by Hojo Tsunetoki, the fourth shogun regent, and established as a Pure Land sect temple by Nenna Ryochu, the third founder of Pure Land Buddhism. In the Edo period, the temple was designated the head temple of the Eighteen Pillars of Pure Land Buddhism in Kanto by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The temple is a center for Buddhist faith and study. Today, the temple still conducts sermons, sutra copying, and prayer sessions regularly, which the general public may take part in. The Taima mandara engi emaki picture scroll in the temple’s possession is a National Treasure. The temple is also the originator of the Pure Land Practice of the O-juya (“ten nights”), and a magnificent Juya Hoyo service is held today at the temple each year from October 12 to 15.

境内は広く、お天気の良い日には近くの方もお散歩がてら参拝に訪れるお寺です。 2019年までは、材木座らくご会の会場にもなっていました。 2020年（令和2年）3月から2030年（令和12年）まで、大殿は大改修工事が行われるとのことなので、観光でいらっしゃる方はご注意ください。

Kanagawa

Around Minato Mirai Yamashita Park / Chinatown / Motomachi Yokohama City (North) Kawasaki Kamakura Miura Peninsula Shonan Central Odawara / Manazurumachi / Yugawara Around Hakonemachi Yokohama City (South)

Travel / Tourism History / Culture / Tour Temple

Kanagawa Areas

Kanagawa prefecture acts as an extension of the Tokyo metropolis that spills over into coastal towns, most notably Yokohama city, heavily populated and known for its Chinatown and seaside attractions. Just the right distance for a day trip out of Tokyo, Kanagawa is home to some of Tokyo’s most accessible beaches, including around Kamakura, best known for its Big Buddha. Visitors can also travel a little farther afield for a weekend at Hakone onsen town.