What other travelers are saying about Tochoji Temple
Beautiful temple with a big wooden buddha.
It's free for the temple entry but an extra 50 yen per person to visit the big wooden buddha on the second floor which is strongly recommended. You should also walk under the wooden buddha. It's a great and exotic experience.
Went here on early October. As a person coming from Nara, (with a giant Buddha statue as well) I found this temple amazing! I love the zen vibe. To see the Buddha statue we need to pay ¥50 (yes, fifty). Photography is prohibited in the Buddha statue area. Goshuin costs ¥500
I visited yesterday. The atmosphere inside the main hall of the temple felt very different from the outside world. It was solemn, quiet, and a truly captivating place.
More than half of the cherry blossom has started blooming , though not full bloom yet. So happy to see two pink color cherry blossom trees here .
The big wooden buddha is on first floor, visiting hours closed by 4:45pm. The second part of the walk in absolute darkness, with 100% reliance on the handrail , is somehow very new experience yet scary to me 😅 it’s a very unique and memorable .
The solemn Buddha statue is 10.8m in height and 30 tons in weight- the largest statue of a seated Buddha among the ones in Japan (source : gofukuoka.jp)
One of the oldest temples in Japan, it is certainly worth the visit and the 100 yen or so that you will spend.
The temple grounds are compact but I spent over an hour just admiring the vegetation, checking out the gravestones and pagoda and thinking of the work put into building them, and listening to the bulbuls and crows.
Make sure you don't miss the giant wooden Buddha! I was in awe at how immense it was, not what I was expecting. There's an interesting gallery comprised of 10 or so hellscapes, and a dark passageway under the Buddha. Intriguing experience for only 50 yen!
I wish there was something in English explaining where the hellscapes were (there seemed to be some kind of audio in Japanese). A short film detailing the process of erecting the Buddha would have also been a nice supplement.
