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Eihei-ji

— Soto Zen's training monastery in the Fukui hills

historyThe classic — done right

A Soto Zen training monastery built into a cedar slope in the Fukui hills, its halls linked one to the next by covered wooden corridors. Monks keep the daily round their founder set down, and visitors who ask ahead can join the morning service.

FromFukui Station
~45 minEchizen Railway, then bus
Get off atEiheijiguchi Station (Echizen Railway Katsuyama-Eiheiji Line)
From there
Eihei-ji

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Sanshokaku, the painted-ceiling hall小石川人晃 / CC BY-SA 4.0

Sojusho, the reception hallthe desk at the entrance where admission, morning-service arrangements and left luggage are handled
Sanshokaku, the painted-ceiling halla great tatami room whose coffered ceiling is filled with panel paintings of birds and flowers
Sanmon, the main gateone of the core seven halls, and with the painted-ceiling room one of the few parts a wheelchair can reach
Butsuden, the buddha hallthe buddha hall of the core seven, set midway up the climb
Hatto, the dharma hallthe highest hall on the slope, where the daily morning service is held

How to actually get there

Fukui Station → Eiheijiguchi Station (Echizen Railway Katsuyama-Eiheiji Line).
Eiheijiguchi Station → the Eiheiji bus stop (Keifuku bus for Eiheiji, ride to the terminus).
Walk about five minutes from the bus stop to the reception desk and pay admission.
Follow the covered corridors up the slope: painted-ceiling hall, main gate, buddha hall, dharma hall.

Echizen Railway from Fukui, then the Keifuku bus: From Fukui Station take the Echizen Railway Katsuyama-Eiheiji Line to Eiheijiguchi, then change to the Keifuku bus signed for Eiheiji and stay on to the last stop. The temple gate is a short walk from there. The town's own figure for the whole journey is about 45 minutes.
Return by bus, then the branch line: Take the bus back down the valley to Eiheijiguchi and pick up the Echizen Railway for Fukui, or ride the express liner straight through to Fukui Station instead. Both the bus and the branch line run to a country timetable rather than a city one, so read the posted departures before you start up the route.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Eihei-ji stands in a cedar valley in the hills of Fukui prefecture. It is a head temple of the Soto school of Zen and a working training monastery, not a preserved monument. About seventy halls and towers are built into the slope. Seven of them — the dharma hall, buddha hall, monks' hall, kitchen, main gate, latrine and bath — make up the core set that gives a Zen monastery its shape, and monks treat all seven as places of practice. Every building is joined to the next by a roofed corridor, so the whole route stays dry in rain. It is also almost all stairs.

How to enjoy it

The gate opens at 8:30 and closes at 16:30, with the last entry at 16:00, and the temple's own estimate for the whole route is a little under an hour. Seated meditation for day visitors runs three times daily, at 10:00, 13:30 and 15:30, with no booking needed; it takes about fifty minutes. The morning service is the one thing you cannot walk in on — telephone the reception desk the day before and they will give you a meeting time.

Background & history

Dogen founded Eihei-ji in 1244 as a hall for seated meditation. His teaching was shikantaza — just sitting, with nothing sought beyond the sitting itself — and the monastery was laid out to make that practice the whole of the day rather than one item in it. It has been a head temple of the Soto school ever since. Monks still keep the round Dogen set: a bell before dawn, seated meditation, the morning service in the dharma hall, then meals and cleaning taken as practice rather than as chores.

Before you go

Cash: Admission is 700 yen for adults and 300 yen for elementary and junior-high pupils, the same 300 yen for holders of a disability certificate, and free for pre-school children. Seated meditation is offered for a separate donation. The reception desk keeps the same hours as the gate, and copying of sutras is currently suspended.
Good to know: Everything inside is joined by roofed corridors, so rain is no obstacle — but the monastery is built on a mountain slope and there are a great many stairs. Prams are not taken inside and are held at reception. A wheelchair can reach the painted-ceiling room and the main gate but not the rest of the route. Pets other than assistance dogs must stay inside a carrier.
Another way: The Keifuku express Eiheiji Liner runs direct from the east exit of Fukui Station to the temple in about 30 minutes with no change. By car it is roughly 15 minutes from the Eiheiji-Sando interchange along National Route 364, and there is a coin car park near Hanshaku bridge.
After you get off: Eiheijiguchi is a transfer point, not the destination — the temple is still several kilometres up the valley. From the station, cross to the bus stop and take the Keifuku service signed for Eiheiji to its terminus. From where the bus sets you down it is about five minutes on foot to the gate.