Kanzan-ji Temple

photo by 三塚 (Mitsuzuka) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Founded, according to tradition, in 810 by Kūkai: it gives its name to the hot-spring town at its foot.

The temple's official website says that the monk Kūkai, founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism, founded it in 810, stopping here on his way back from a pilgrimage to Mount Kōya, and it records two medieval fires, in 1187 and 1384, and the move to the Sōtō Zen school in 1890. You walk up from the hot-spring town of Kanzanji, which takes its name from the temple.

The temple stands on the headland that closes off the inner bay of Lake Hamana to the north, and it gave its name to the hot-spring town of Kanzanji at its foot. Founded, according to tradition, in 810, it passed from the Shingon school to the Sōtō Zen school in 1890, after surviving two medieval fires.

ℹ️ The temple does not publish opening hours or an entry ticket; guides give different hours, between 7:00–8:00 and 17:00–18:00. You walk up from the hot-spring town of Kanzanji, which you reach on the ‘Kanzanji Onsen’ bus from Hamamatsu Station. From 13 to 15 August, at 20:00, the hot-spring area sets off fireworks over the inner bay of the lake (内浦湾, Uchiura-wan), in front of the temple's headland.

🚉 Kanzanji Onsen · 7 min walk

Sources: kanzanji.net · kanzanji.gr.jp

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