Find Buddhist Spots
A connection with a Buddha image may appear unexpectedly. Search for places that may lead you to your own My Buddha.
Asuka-dera Temple (Angoin)
Buddhist Image Asuka Great Buddha (Seated Shaka Nyorai) Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
DignityDepthPurity
Asuka-dera, also known as Ango-in, houses the bronze seated Shaka Nyorai called the Asuka Daibutsu. Created as the principal image of Hōkō-ji, the temple founded by Soga no Umako, the statue is traditionally attributed to Tori Busshi and was completed by 609. The 2.75-meter image has undergone extensive repairs after fires and other disasters, but portions around the forehead and eyes, the left ear, and three fingers of the right hand are believed to retain the original work. Its ancient gaze offers a direct encounter with the formative years of Buddhism in Japan.
Eisan-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Yakushi Nyorai Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Gojō City, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Please check before visiting
StillnessPurityDepth
Eizan-ji, founded according to tradition in 719 by Fujiwara no Muchimaro, stands beside the Yoshino River. Its main hall, also called Yakushi-dō, enshrines an Important Cultural Property seated Yakushi Nyorai (Medicine Buddha), together with the Twelve Divine Generals. The temple grounds also preserve a National Treasure octagonal hall and bell, bearing witness to a history that reaches back to the Nara period. The calm presence of Yakushi offers a quiet focus for prayers concerning illness, anxiety, and protection.
Rengeō-in Temple
Buddhist Image Senju Kannon Bosatsu Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
SolemnityDignityMystery
Rengeō-in, better known as Sanjūsangen-dō, houses 1,001 images of Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara): a monumental seated principal image at the center and one thousand life-size standing figures arranged in ordered ranks. Before them stand the Twenty-Eight Guardian Deities and the Wind and Thunder Gods. The extraordinary length of the hall and the unbroken rows of Kannon images make compassion visible on an immense scale, while the guardian figures add solemnity and powerful protection.
Rokuharamitsu-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Juichimen Kannon Bosatsu Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Main Hall is open for worship; the hidden main image is opened once every 12 years
MysteryDepthWarmth
Rokuharamitsu-ji is an ancient temple in Higashiyama founded by the priest Kūya. The main hall enshrines as its principal image a National Treasure standing statue of Jūichimen Kannon (Eleven-Headed Kannon), preserving Kūya’s prayers to end epidemics and the faith of Kyoto’s townspeople. Usually concealed within a shrine as a hibutsu (hidden Buddhist image), it lends the temple a quiet sense of mystery—as though one were joining one’s palms before an unseen Buddha.
Kōryū-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Miroku Bosatsu Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
StillnessMysteryGentleness
Kōryū-ji in Uzumasa is regarded as Kyoto’s oldest temple and has deep ties to Prince Shōtoku and the Hata clan. Its treasure hall houses the celebrated Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya) in a contemplative half-seated pose, designated as Japan’s National Treasure No. 1. The figure’s meditative posture and faint, serene smile convey a profound sense of mystery, embodying beauty and devotion passed down across the centuries.
Ninna-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Amida Triad Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Normally closed to the public; special viewing may be available
PurityDignityStillness
The Kondō (Golden Hall) stands at the heart of Ninna-ji, long known as the Omuro Imperial Palace. It enshrines the temple’s principal Amida Triad and conveys quiet dignity together with the refined elegance of a former imperial palace hall transferred to the temple. Set deep within the spacious grounds, it expresses both the prestige of a monzeki temple traditionally headed by members of the imperial family and the peaceful salvation of Amida Buddha.
Tō-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Three-Dimensional Mandala Category Other
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
SolemnityDignityMystery
The Lecture Hall of Tō-ji houses Kūkai’s sculptural mandala, a three-dimensional expression of esoteric Buddhist teaching. Twenty-one figures are arranged around Dainichi Nyorai: the Five Wisdom Buddhas, Five Great Bodhisattvas, Five Wisdom Kings, the Four Heavenly Kings, Brahmā, and Indra. Seen together, they embody wisdom, compassion, protection, and awakening as a single Buddhist cosmos. More than a collection of individual statues, the hall invites visitors to enter the mandala world itself.
Tō-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Yakushi Triad Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
DignityPeacefulnessSolemnity
Tō-ji’s Kondō (Golden Hall) is the temple’s main hall and the first major building begun after the founding of Tō-ji in 796. It enshrines the Yakushi Triad: Yakushi Nyorai (the Medicine Buddha), flanked by Nikkō and Gakkō Bodhisattvas. The principal image is an unusual Seven Medicine Buddhas form without a medicine jar, and twelve divine generals surround its pedestal. Whereas the Lecture Hall presents the vast cosmos of esoteric Buddhism, the Kondō expresses prayers for health, protection, and the peace of the new capital.
Byōdō-in Temple
Buddhist Image Amida Nyorai Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
PeacefulnessPurityStillness
Byodoin’s Phoenix Hall houses the National Treasure seated image of Amida Buddha created by Jōchō, the leading Buddhist sculptor of the Heian period. Seen across the pond, the hall preserves a vision of the Pure Land imagined by the aristocracy of the eleventh century. Timed, capacity-limited interior visits allow visitors to stand before Amida’s serene expression and experience the hall’s surviving decoration at close range. Same-day tickets are issued at the reception desk in the garden.
Jōruri-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Nine Seated Amida Nyorai Statues Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kizugawa City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
StillnessPeacefulnessSolemnity
Jōruri-ji is an ancient temple in Tōno, southern Kyoto Prefecture. Its Pure Land garden places the main hall on the western side of a central pond and the three-story pagoda on the eastern side, giving architectural form to a vision of the Pure Land in this world. The National Treasure main hall enshrines nine National Treasure seated images of Amida Buddha, one in each bay. It is the only surviving nine-Amida hall built in the Heian period, preserving an exceptionally complete expression of aristocratic Pure Land devotion.
Jingo-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Yakushi Nyorai Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
StillnessDepthPurity
The Kondō (Golden Hall) of Jingo-ji, deep in the mountains of Takao, enshrines the Yakushi Triad centered on a National Treasure standing image of Yakushi Nyorai (the Medicine Buddha). Its powerful, austere expression inspires a sense of awe and reflects the rigorous spirit of mountain Buddhism. Reached after a long ascent of stone steps, the hall brings together the stillness of an ancient mountain temple and prayers for healing and protection from calamity.
Daigo-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Five Great Myo-o Category Myo-o (Wisdom King)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Please check before visiting
PowerDignityMystery
Daigo-ji’s Fudōdō is a small hall and goma fire-ritual site in the Shimo-Daigo complex. It enshrines the Five Great Wisdom Kings—Fudō, Gōzanze, Gundari, Daiitoku, and Kongōyasha—who are revered collectively as the Godairiki-son, the Five Great Powers. For the annual Godairiki-son Ninnō-e, Daigo-ji’s largest religious observance, the images are moved to the Kondō to receive prayers for the removal of calamity, protection, and the well-being of the country and its people. The hall conveys the concentrated force of esoteric practice.
Sennyū-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Buddhas of the Three Times: Shaka, Amida, and Miroku Nyorai Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
StillnessPurityDignity
The Butsuden (Buddha Hall) of Sennyū-ji—revered as Mitera, the Imperial Temple—enshrines the Three Buddhas of the Three Ages: Amida Nyorai, Shaka Nyorai, and Miroku Nyorai, representing the past, present, and future. Their presence creates a devotional space that embraces human hopes for peace across time. The hall’s measured stillness and dignity reflect Sennyū-ji’s long association with the imperial family.
Imakumano Kannon-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Juichimen Kannon Bosatsu Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Main Hall is open for worship; the main image is hidden, but the public-facing substitute image can be viewed
GentlenessPeacefulnessWarmth
Imakumano Kannon-ji, located within the Sennyū-ji temple precincts, is the 15th temple of the Saigoku Thirty-Three Kannon Pilgrimage. Its hidden principal image is Jūichimen Kannon (Eleven-Headed Kannon); for regular worship, visitors pray before an omaedachi image made in the same form. Affectionately known as Atama no Kannon-san, “Kannon of the Head,” the temple is rooted in Kumano faith and in its historical ties to Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa. Here visitors can encounter Kannon’s compassion in easing suffering and an atmosphere of quiet prayer.
Seiryō-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Shaka Nyorai Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Please check before visiting
PurityStillnessDepth
Seiryō-ji, popularly known as Saga Shakadō, enshrines in its main hall the National Treasure standing image of Shaka Nyorai (Shakyamuni Buddha), revered as the “Living Shakyamuni.” Brought from Northern Song China by the monk Chōnen, the image is believed to reproduce Shakyamuni’s appearance at the age of thirty-seven. It became the prototype for the Seiryō-ji style of Shakyamuni sculpture and remains the focus of a distinctive tradition of devotion in the calm surroundings of Sagano.
Daihōon-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Shaka Nyorai Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
DepthDignityStillness
Daihōon-ji, affectionately known as Senbon Shakadō, is a historic temple in Kamigyō. Its National Treasure main hall, the oldest surviving National Treasure building in central Kyoto, enshrines a seated Shaka Nyorai (Shakyamuni Buddha) carved by Gyōkai. The treasure hall also preserves Gyōkei’s statues of the Ten Great Disciples and Jōkei’s Six Kannon images, offering a close encounter with the artistry of Kamakura-period Buddhist sculpture and centuries of devotion.
Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Mikaeri Amida Nyorai (Looking-Back Amida Buddha) Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
GentlenessPeacefulnessWarmth
The Amida Hall at Eikandō Zenrin-ji enshrines its principal image, Mikaeri-Amida (Amitabha Looking Back). The Buddha turns over his left shoulder, recalling the legend in which he looked back at the priest Yōkan and said, “Yōkan, you are slow.” The pose has come to symbolize compassion that waits for those who lag behind, reflects on one’s own path, and guides everyone forward together. It conveys gentleness, reassurance, and Amida’s mercy close at hand.
Hino Hōkai-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Amida Nyorai Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
StillnessPeacefulnessPurity
The National Treasure Amida Hall at Hōkai-ji houses a National Treasure seated image of Amida Nyorai. Celestial beings are painted on the plaster walls above the inner sanctuary, while hōsōge floral motifs decorate the coffered ceiling, surrounding the Buddha with an image of the Pure Land envisioned by Heian-period aristocrats. Although Yakushi Nyorai is the principal image of Hōkai-ji as a whole, the Amida Hall is one of the temple’s defining devotional spaces, offering a profound sense of serenity and Pure Land faith.
Hōbodai-in Gantoku-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Nyoirin Kannon Bosatsu Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Please check before visiting
GentlenessMysteryDepth
Hōbodai-in Gantoku-ji is known as one of Kyoto’s smallest temples open for viewing Buddhist sculpture. Its main hall houses a National Treasure wooden bodhisattva in a half-seated posture, traditionally identified as Nyoirin Kannon. The image is distinguished by its poised form and subtle human warmth. In the quiet setting at the foot of the mountain, visitors can contemplate its serene beauty and the deep devotion it has inspired.
Kōdō Gyōgan-ji Temple
Buddhist Image Senju Kannon Bosatsu Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Visiting Status Usually open to visitors
WarmthGentlenessPeacefulness
Kōdō Gyōgan-ji is a historic Tendai temple founded by the monk Gyōen in 1004 and is the 19th temple of the Saigoku Thirty-Three Kannon Pilgrimage. Its main hall enshrines Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Kannon), traditionally attributed to Gyōen. Repeatedly rebuilt in the heart of Kyoto after fires and relocations, the temple has retained the welcoming character of a machidō—an urban sanctuary closely connected with ordinary people. Pilgrimage devotion and everyday prayer meet naturally here.