Shiofune Kannon-ji Temple

photo by Hanasakijijii · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by Hiroaki Kaneko · CC BY-SA 3.0

Temple with 20,000 azaleas of 20 varieties; entry 300¥ only during the flowering

From mid-April to early May the hill around the temple is covered with about 20,000 azaleas of more than 20 varieties, arranged in a bowl around the grounds: only in this period do you pay for a ticket, and the rest of the year entry is free. The route between the flower beds has a gradient that several reviews flag for children and older people. Out of season the temple goes back to being little visited.

Buddhist temple of legendary foundation, dated back to the Taika era (645–650). Its thousand-armed Kannon (千手観音立像), the main image, and the twenty-eight statues of its retinue (二十八部衆立像) were designated a national Important Cultural Property (重要文化財) in 2020. The number of azaleas, about twenty thousand of more than twenty varieties, comes from the temple leaflet quoted by a visit blog, not from an official page that can be pinned down in a single line.

ℹ️ 参拝 (visit) 8:30–16:30 under normal conditions; during the つつじまつり (azalea festival), 8:00–17:00, with tickets at 300 yen for adults, 100 for children, 250 for groups of 20 or more or for over-75s. Access is by bus from JR Kabe Station to the ‘塩船観音入口’ bus stop plus 10 minutes on foot, or 40 minutes on foot from the station: several reviews describe access as inconvenient. The 2027 flowering dates are not yet published.

🚉 Higashi-Ome · 29 min walk

Sources: shiofunekannonji.or.jp · shiofunekannonji.or.jp · shiofunekannonji.or.jp

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