Temple Spots in Wakayama Area

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Wakayama
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Category

Travel / Tourism

History / Culture / Tour

Temple

Ichiganji Temple

4.5

4 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Tanabeshi Nakahechichounishidani 575

The name Ichiganji means “temple of one request,” and it is dedicated to the bodhisattva Jizo, who is said to grant the requests of those who ask at least once. Since the Buddhist priest who enshrined the statue of Jizo was fond of mustard and sake, people who have a request to make should bring offerings of mustard and sake. The temple’s major festival is held on the last Sunday in February. Votive sake is given to the people in attendance, and at mochi rice cakes are thrown at the end of the ceremony.

田辺市の山奥にあるお寺です。一つだけ願いが叶うと言われています。年一回、お願いをしにいっています。なかなか叶いません笑
Hinokuma Jingu Shrine and Kunikakasu Jingu Shrine (Hinokuma Jingu Shrine Office)

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Wakayamashi Akiduki 365

"These shrines are about one minute on foot from Nichizengu Station, and about five minutes by car from Wakayama Interchange. Founded more than 2,600 years ago, they honor the Shinto gods Hinokuma-no-Okami and Kunikakasu-no-Okami. Worshiping there is thought to be helpful for matchmaking and household security. They hold a ceremony called ""Nichizengu Ebisu Mairi"" from January 9 to 11 when they offer lucky items like kumade and fukudawara amulets. It's the only time the approach to the shrine is lined with red banners lit up at night. On July 26, their kagura hall hosts a performance of Noh theater by firelight."
Konpon Daito

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Itogunkouyachou Kouyasan 152

This pagoda was erected to serve as a symbol of a Shingon Esoteric Buddhism Konpon Dojo training center. Located on a stage on the grounds of the Kongobu-ji Temple, work on the pagoda began when the great monk Kukai first founded the temple on Mt. Koya and was completed around 887. The pagoda was rebuilt in 1937 to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of the passing of Kukai. 50 meters tall, the two-story pagoda consists of four sides and 16 bays. Of particular note is the interior structure of the pagoda itself, which is designed as a three-dimensional mandala. The mandala consists of a statue of Dainichi-Nyorai, the principal object of worship, surrounded by the four Buddhas of the Diamond Realm. The 16 internal pillars are decorated with images of 16 Bodhisattvas, while the four walls and corners are decorated with images of the Eight Patriarchs.
Jison-in Temple

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Itogunkudoyamachou Jisonin 832

Mirukudo Hall of Jison-in Temple was registered as a part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range in 2004, and it was made a Nationally Designated Important Cultural Property in 1965. In addition, the main statue of Mirokubosatsu is a representative work of the Heian period and was designated a National Treasure in 1963. There are also about 100 Jizo statues, and earthen wall that was designated a Prefectural Cultural Property, and more. It’s about a 20-minute walk from Kudoyama Station.
Okunoin Sando

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Ito-gun Koyacho Koyasan 550

This two kilometer-long temple approach leads from Okunoin Temple's Ichi no Hashi bridge to the mausoleum the famous monk Kukai. The path is lined with many cedar trees that are more than seven hundred years old as well as upwards of 200,000 gravestone and memorial towers. Many of them bear famous names such as those of samurai warlords like Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and Ooka Echizen, as well as that of the Kishu Tokugawa clan. The tourism association publishes a guide map with the locations of memorial towers that visitors heading to Okunoin Temple can use to find a particular individual. The approach is also lined with stone lanterns that are lit at dusk, creating a mystical atmosphere.
Torodo (Lantern Hall)

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Itogunkouyachou Kouyasan 550

"One of the Two Great Holy Sites of Mt. Koyasan, it was originally built as a hall of worship as a chapel of the mausoleum, and is located in front of the Gobyo (mausoleum) at ""Okuno-in"" where Kukai (Kobo Daishi) died while meditating. Inside, over 20,000 toro lanterns offered by worshipers hang bundled closely together. At the front on the inside, the Kishin lanterns devoted by Kishin shonin and the Shirakawa lanterns devoted by the Emperor Shirakawa have remained burning for over 1000 years as an ""unquenched flame."" In particular, the prayer lamp said to have been devoted by a girl called Oteru who sold her own hair for the Bodhi of her parents is also called ""the lantern of a poor girl."""
Onsendera Temple

4.0

1 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Tanabe-shi Ryujinmura Ryujin 23

"This temple is a five-minute walk from Ryujin Onsen bus stop. Visitors should follow the path on the other side of the river toward Ryujin Onsen Motoyu. It is just past Nanda Ryuo Shrine. Kobo Daishi is said to have discovered the hot spring in the ninth century after receiving a message from Nanda Ryuo and founded the hot spring, dedicating it to the Buddha Yakushi Nyorai. The temple was dubbed ""Onsendera"" (""Hot Spring Temple"") when the monk Meisan rebuilt the Ryuo Shrine Yakushido. Since it is located in a hot spring resort area, it receives large numbers of visitors. Some of the current buildings were reconstructed in recent years."

龍神温泉湯元の前にある駐車場近くの階段を登った所にあります。由緒には、頑固な腫れ物を温泉で治したことからか、薬師堂を再建し、温泉寺と名付けとなっています。
Zenpukuin Temple Shakado

3.0

1 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Kainan-shi Shimotsucho Umeda 271

This temple belonging to the Tendai school of Buddhism is located in the expansive valley of Umeda just south of Wakanoura Port. The temple was founded as one of the five Kofukuji Gokain temples in 1372 by Eisai, the monk who brought tea to Japan. The temple is said to have been so prosperous during the Azuchi-Momoyama period as the family temple of the Kamo clan that it had a complete seven-structured temple compound. However, the only temple building that remains today is the Shakado Hall, a Zenshu-style Buddhist temple featuring a mokoshi (decorative pent roof). Designated a national treasure, the hall is notable for its oversized pillars and beams and for prominently displaying characteristics of the Zenshuyo style such as the tile-covered hipped roof and parallel rafters. Together with the Shariden of Engakuji Temple in Kamakura and the Butsuden of Kozanji Temple in Yamaguchi Prefecture it is considered to be one of the oldest archetypal Zenshuyo-style Buddhist temple buildings remaining in Japan.

国宝の釈迦堂は、明治44年の解体修理でほぼ建立当時の姿になったとのことです。このままの姿を維持してもらいたいと思います。
Negoro-ji Temple Daito Great Tower

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Iwadeshi Negoro 2286 head temple Negoro-ji in

Located on the grounds of the Negoro-ji Temple, a Shingi Shingon Buddhist temple established by Mt. Koya priest Kakuban, this 36-meter-tall tower is one of the largest such two tier wooden pagoda towers in Japan. Designed to represent the doctrines of Shingon Buddhism, the tower was completed in 1547. Thanks to Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the tower escaped the fires of the Conquest of Kii Province, but the building still bears the marks of bullets fired from matchlock rifles. A designated National Treasure—visitors can also view the inside of the tower.
Obaku-shu Gokokuzan Tokoji Temple

Travel / Tourism

Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture hongu Yunomine 113

A Tendai Buddhist temple located in the Yunomine Onsen area. The temple’s principle object of worship, the three-meter-tall Yunomine Healing Buddha, is said to be mineral deposits from the surrounding hot spring waters which accumulated and took the shape of a Buddha. Some 1,800 years ago, it is said that the famed priest Ragyo discovered the hot spring waters welling forth from a hole in the chest of Bhaisajyaguru, the Healing Buddha. Each year, the Eight Day Festival of Bhaisajyaguru is held on January 8. During the festival, hot spring water is offered in prayer for the prosperity of Yunomine Onsen and the fulfillment of the wishes of worshipers.
Nyonindo

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Itogunkouyachou Kouyasan 709

This is a “sanrojo” (prayer space) near Fudozakaguchi, one of the seven gates of Mt. Koya. It used to house women who would visit the mountain to pray before 1872, when women weren’t allowed on the mountain. There used to be similar facilities at all the gates, but this is currently the only one that remains.
Itijyoin

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Itogunkouyachou Kouyasan 606

A Koyasan Shingon Buddhist temple sprawling at the foot of Mt. Koya. To get here, take the Nankai Rinkan Bus from Koyasan Station on the Nankai Cable Line and get off at the “Senjuinbashi” bus stop; the temple is immediately adjacent. The temple’s principal object of worship is the only statue depicting Maitreya of the temples in the vicinity of the mountain. According to records, the temple was founded by the priest Zenka during the distant Konin era. The main temple building was rebuilt in 1933 and its detailed carvings and resplendent balustrade serve as a symbol of the temple. The temple also offers lodging for pilgrims and visitors and guests can enjoy hot spring bathing and traditional Japanese Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Visitors can also engage in traditional ascetic training practices and try sutra copying and breathe meditation, as well as deepen their knowledge of Buddhism by viewing materials on sacred Mt. Koya and Buddhist imagery in the temple.
Fudozaka Guchi Nyonindo Hall

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Ito-gun Koyacho Koyasan 709
Daimon Gate

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Ito-gun Koyacho Koyasan

"This 25.1 meter-tall vermillion gate towering over the entrance to Koyasan serves as the temple settlement's main gate. When the temple was settled, a torii (shrine gate) was built in Tsuzuraoridani below the location of this gate originally served as the main gate. This gate burned down several times due to a forest fire and a lightning strike The current building was constructed in 1705. The highlight of the gate is the pair of Kongo Rikishi statues that flank both sides of the gate. Depicted with intense scowls and muscular physiques, these imposing figures are said to be the largest of their kind after those of Todaiji Temple's Nandaimon. The Chinese couplet hung on the front of the gate means ""Kobo Daishi appears each morning, makes the rounds, and offers us salvation."" This expresses the idea that Kobo Daishi is always with us, a tenet of the faith practiced in Koyasan."
Fudodo

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Ito-gun Koyacho Koyasan 152

This sugaruhafu-style building is located east of the Danjo Garan beyond the Chumon gate in Koyasan. The building, which looks much like the residence of a Heian period noble, is an oddity among all the temples that stand in Koyasan. Many mysteries surround it including the exact reason for its construction and why there are no signs of a fire altar despite being a hall dedicated to Acala. Constructed during the Kamakura period in 1198, the hall was designated as a National Treasure in 1899. In 1908 it was repaired and relocated to its current location. Although Koyasan has suffered many conflagrations, fires never reached the area where the hall was originally located. For this reason, it is one of the few buildings from the period that retain its original form.
Gobyo

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Ito-gun Koyacho Koyasan 550

"This mausoleum located in the past Mt. Koya's Okunoin Temple is the final resting place of Kobo Daish Kukai. Considered the most sacred place even in World Heritage Koyasan, it is visited by people from around the world. The building's hogyozukuri-style roof covers a narrow isle that surrounds its rectangular core. The mausoleum, which is surrounded by three thousand year-old cedar trees on the three mountains known as Mt. Tenjiku, Mt. Yoryu, and Mt. Mani, has a solemn and dignified appearance. Kobo Daishi is considered by the faithful to still be meditating in his mausoleum. Every morning and noon monks perform a ritual called ""shojinku"" in which an offering of food is made to Kobo Daishi. It is said that he responds to prayers made at his mausoleum and that he guides visitors to and from the Ichi-no-hashi bridge. This idea is rooted in the concept of Dogyo Ninin (""Kobo Daishi is always with me"") that is taught in Koyasan."
Honganji Temple Hidaka Betsuin Temple (Hidaka Goboso)

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Gobo-shi Gobo 100

This ancient temple is located a five-minute walk from Nishi-Gobo Station on the Kishu Railway. Founded in 1540 by Yukawa Naomitsu, the temple belongs to the Honganji School of Jodo-shinshu Sect Buddhism. The temple would come to be referred to as Gobo-san, the namesake of Gobo City, following its relocation to its current location after it burned to the ground during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's subjugation of the Kishu Domain. The temple's current hondo (main building) is a reconstruction built in 1825. It also retains a shukubo (temple lodgings), shoin (drawing room), shorodo (bell tower), two gates, taikoro (drum tower), and other structures. The townscape of the surrounding area still retains vestiges from when it prospered as a temple town during the Edo Period. The large ginkgo tree on the temple's grounds, a prefectural natural monument, is more than four hundred years old.
Honkakuji Temple

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Nishimuro-gun Shirahamacho 627

"Honkakuji, also known as Kaidera ""shell temple,"" is a twenty-minute drive from the Nanki Shirahama Interchange on the Kisei Expressway. It is a subsidiary temple of Chion-in temple, the Chinzei school of the Jodo-shu Sect of Buddhism. Successive generations of abbots have collected over 30,000 shells of one thousand varieties, some of them rare scientific specimens, especially the Honkakujihigai, discovered in 1929 and named after the temple. This collection of shells is stored and displayed at the temple. The temple presented rare shells to the lords of the Kishu Domain, one of Tokugawa Gosanke, the three privileged branches of the Tokugawa family, and even now, a memorial tablet for the lords is an object of veneration."
Tokushoji Temple

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Arida-shi Itogacho Nakaban 229

This Seizan Jodo-sect temple is located in Arida City. It is also known as the Chujohime Temple. There are many versions of the story, but according to legend, Chujohime, daughter of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Toyonari, was cast away by her father's second wife but was sheltered by Ito Harutoki, one of the family's retainers, and lived her life in hiding here in this area. The temple possesses varies items connected to Chujohime. The temple also holds a memorial service on May 14th, the date of her death, and during the event children between the ages of five and 12 put on masks and robes to dress as 25 bodhisattvas and parade around the grounds. The ceremony has been designated an Intangible Folk-Cultural Property by Wakayama Prefecture.
Rengejoin

4.0

120 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Wakayama Pref. Itogunkouyachou Kouyasan 700

I cant compare Rengejoin to the other temples in Koyasan, but in a vacuum, it was a wonderful place to visit and spend the night. For a temple that also doubles as an inn, I think it struck a good...

Wakayama

Wakayama City Suburbs Mt. Koya / Ryujin Onsen / Kudoyama Kainan / Arita / Minabe / Tanabe Shirahama Kumano Kodo / Hongu Kushimoto / Koza / Susami Nachikatsuura / Taiji / Shingu

Travel / Tourism History / Culture / Tour Temple

Wakayama Areas

Wakayama prefecture unites pilgrims, food lovers, and culture buffs in a tranquil corner of Japan at the base of the Kii Peninsula. The setting for many a Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail, Wakayama invites those in search of spirituality from one side of the prefecture to the other, from the 100-plus Buddhist temples of the sacred Mount Koya in the west to the inspiring temples of the Kumano Sanzan set among breathtaking nature in the east. Once the grueling hike is complete, make a beeline for Wakayama city to savor some of the country’s most delicious ramen noodles.