Temples & Shrines

A painted turtle with a green shell and a face looking straight out, on a gold-leaf panel set in a wooden coffered ceiling, with lines of black brush inscription on the right

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Okutsumiya: The Turtle Is Looking at You

Published: Oct 17, 2026

A wooden lattice with a small barred door filling an arched opening cut into a rock face, with stone steps in front and ferns at the edges

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Kōsokuji: The Temple Named After Its Jailer

Published: Oct 12, 2026

A grey stone statue of Benkei in a hood, seated at a stone desk with a brush in his hand and a scroll unrolled in front of him, under pine branches, beside a tall stone carved with the name of the Koshigoe letter

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Manpukuji: Yoshitsune’s Waiting Room

Published: Oct 12, 2026

A row of stone kappa figures in pink aprons on stone pedestals under small wooden roofs, lining both sides of a garden path

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Jōsenji: The Head Priest Sends His Kappa

Published: Oct 10, 2026

A large ceramic Buddha head with tightly curled hair on a broad, rounded base, behind a bamboo fence and a stone lantern, with a dark guardian figure standing on either side and trees behind

Shizuoka Temples & Shrines

Kubi Daibutsu: The Rest Is Legend

Published: Oct 9, 2026

Bronze relief panels on the Efudezuka at Egara Tenjin Shrine, each showing a kappa drawn by a different cartoonist

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Egara Tenjin Shrine: Where Cartoonists Retire Their Brushes

Published: Oct 3, 2026

The green bronze torii at the foot of the shopping street leading to Enoshima Shrine, with a crowd of visitors passing beneath it and wooded hills behind

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Enoshima’s Bronze Torii: A Gate from the Pleasure Quarter

Published: Oct 2, 2026

A weathered bronze dragon with antler-like horns and long whiskers, seen from below against a blue sky, its claws resting on rocks

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Wadatsumi-no-miya: The Dragon Moved Upstairs

Published: Oct 1, 2026

A wall of red wooden lion heads at Kamakura-gū, two large ones rising above hundreds of small ones

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Kamakura-gū Shrine: Let the Dish Take the Hit

Published: Sep 29, 2026

A giant ginkgo beside Goryō Shrine in Zushi, its roots spreading across the shaded grounds.

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Goryō Shrine: A Giant Ginkgo and the House That Moved Out

Published: Sep 20, 2026

The Echizen Daibutsu seated before its gold-and-black halo, one hand raised.

Fukui Temples & Shrines

Echizen Daibutsu: One Man’s Very Large Idea

Published: Sep 19, 2026

A close view of Koizumi Junsaku’s dragon painted across the Dharma Hall ceiling at Kenchōji Temple in Kamakura.

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Kenchōji Temple: A Dragon Worth Looking Up To

Published: Sep 16, 2026

A seated figure in front of the smaller carved stones, with apartment balconies and utility wires beyond.

Tokyo Temples & Shrines

Chōsenji Temple: A Different Kind of Shibuya Crowd

Published: Sep 14, 2026

Enmei Tabako Jizō inside a small wooden shrine in Yudanaka, wearing green cloth beneath purple curtains, with flowers and cigarettes in a stone container in front.

Nagano Temples & Shrines

Enmei Tabako Jizō: Cigarettes for a Longer Life

Published: Sep 9, 2026

Dark entrance to Taya Cave at Jōsenji Temple, framed by greenery and pale hydrangeas.

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Taya Cave: A Pilgrimage by Candlelight

Published: Sep 8, 2026

Giant lion-head Shishi-den at Namba Yasaka Shrine in Osaka, with its open mouth forming a stage above visitors in the courtyard.

Osaka Temples & Shrines

Namba Yasaka Shrine: Where a Giant Lion Eats Bad Luck

Published: Sep 2, 2026

Heavily worn stone Kankan Jizō at Anyoin Temple in Senju, Tokyo, with its facial features almost completely gone and flowers placed before it.

Tokyo Temples & Shrines

Anyoin Temple: Kankan Jizō, Worn Away by Prayer

Published: Aug 31, 2026

Golden Shō Kannon rising above Entsuji Temple, with rows of balconies on either side of the modern temple building in Tokyo.

Tokyo Temples & Shrines

Entsuji Temple: The Giant Kannon and the Bullet-Scarred Black Gate

Published: Aug 30, 2026

Nearly four-metre stone Kubikiri Jizō at Enmeiji Temple, surrounded by smaller Jizō and memorial stones in Tokyo.

Tokyo Temples & Shrines

Enmeiji Temple: The Beheading Jizō Statue

Published: Aug 29, 2026

Rows of white maneki-neko at Gotokuji Temple seen through autumn leaves in Tokyo.

Tokyo Temples & Shrines

Gotokuji Temple: Where Lucky Cats Come Back

Published: Aug 28, 2026

White fox statue leaning over dark volcanic rock, with several other foxes and a small shrine behind it at Keihin Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Keihin Fushimi Inari Shrine: 108 Foxes and a Little Mount Fuji

Published: Aug 27, 2026

Object preserved at Hounji Temple in Chichibu as a dragon bone, displayed behind glass with visible teeth and jaw-like features.

Saitama Temples & Shrines

Hounji Temple: A Dragon Bone, a Tengu Claw and Yang Guifei’s Mirror

Published: Aug 26, 2026

Moss-covered Mizukake Fudō at Hozenji Temple in Osaka, surrounded by stone lanterns and flowers.

Osaka Temples & Shrines

Hozenji Temple: The Fudō Beneath the Moss

Published: Aug 26, 2026

Ofuna Kannon rising above the approach steps at Ofuna Kannonji Temple in Kamakura.

Kanagawa Temples & Shrines

Ofuna Kannon Temple: A Giant Kannon, from the Shoulders Up

Published: Aug 25, 2026

Ghost Jizō statue at Kofukuji Temple in Takanawa, Tokyo.

Tokyo Temples & Shrines

Kofukuji Temple: A Ghost Jizō Fading at Both Ends

Published: Aug 24, 2026