Kosanji Temple

1200¥ 9:00 - 17:00

Kosanji is a large, colorful and rather unconventional temple complex located on Ikuchijima, a small island in the Seto inland sea. It was founded in 1936 by Koso Kosanji, a successful business man who became a Buddhist priest, to ensure his late mother's rebirth into the Buddhist paradise.

The temple covers an area of around fifty thousand square meters and took over 30 years to be completed. Kosanji's visitors often get a strong feeling of deja-vu, since many of the structures of the temple are modeled after some of Japan's most famous architectural monuments from different eras, such as Nikko's Yomeimon Gate or the Byodoin's Phoenix Hall in Kyoto.

One of Kosanji's unique and original attractions is Miraishin No Oka, meaning The Heights of Eternal Hope for Future, an abstract sculpture garden which covers a surface of 5000 square meters and is located on a small hill at the top of the temple. All of the sculptures are carvings are made of imported pure Italian marble by the famous Japanese sculptor Kazuto Kuetani.

Onomichi

Ferry
40 min. 800¥

Setoda

RELATED LINKS

Official website