Gunma · West TakasakiNo.957★★Open in map →

Shorinzan Darumaji Temple

— Birthplace of Japan's wish-making daruma dolls

craftOff the trail — and worth it

An Obaku Zen temple on a hillside west of Takasaki, and the source of Japan's red papier-mache wishing doll. Its Daruma-do gathers dolls from across the country, and the town below still makes most of the nation's supply.

FromTakasaki Station
~25 minJR local train, then a walk
Get off atGunma-Yawata Station (JR Shin'etsu Line)
On foot
Shorinzan Darumaji Temple

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is a working prayer temple on a quiet residential slope, not a museum, and it sits well away from central Takasaki. For two days each January it fills for the daruma market. The rest of the year the approach and the halls are unhurried, and nothing about the visit needs booking.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Somon outer gatethe gate at the foot of the approach, where the climb to the halls begins
Kannon-doa thatched hall part-way up the slope, long visited for child-raising and warding prayers
Reifudo main hallthe main hall, where the temple's direction-warding and star rites are performed
Daruma-doa hall of daruma gathered from all over Japan, set around a seated figure of Bodhidharma
Senshin-teithe small cottage in the grounds where the German architect Bruno Taut lived in the 1930s

How to actually get there

Takasaki Station to Gunma-Yawata Station (JR Shin'etsu Line, local train, about seven minutes).
Gunma-Yawata Station across the Usui River to the temple approach (about fifteen minutes on foot).
Climb from the outer gate past the Kannon hall and main hall to the Daruma-do and Senshin-tei, then return the same way.

JR Shin'etsu Line from Takasaki Station: Takasaki Station to Gunma-Yawata Station on the JR Shin'etsu Line, about seven minutes on a local train. From the station it is roughly a fifteen-minute walk: south under Route 18, across the Usui River, then up the signposted lane on the far bank to the outer gate.
Return from Gunma-Yawata Station: Walk back down the lane to Gunma-Yawata Station and take the Shin'etsu Line east to Takasaki. This is a single-track stretch and services thin out after the evening peak, so note the departure board when you arrive rather than assuming a train will be waiting.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Shorinzan Darumaji stands on the north slope of the Hanadaka hills, west of central Takasaki. It belongs to Obaku Zen, a Chinese-influenced school, and it works as a prayer temple rather than a sightseeing one. It is also the accepted starting point of the engi-daruma, the red papier-mache wishing doll sold the length of the country. The workshops in the Toyooka district below the temple ship about 900,000 of them a year, the bulk of Japan's papier-mache daruma. What the grounds add is the other half of that story: where the shape came from, and why anyone thought to make it.

How to enjoy it

Give it an unhurried mid-morning. From the outer gate up past the thatched Kannon hall to the main hall, the Daruma-do and Taut's cottage is an easy hour on foot with time to stand still. The daruma market falls on 6 and 7 January, when the approach fills with stalls and the year's dolls arrive from the workshops below; choose those dates if the crowd is the point, and any other day if it is not.

Background & history

The temple was opened in 1697 under Shinetsu, a Chinese monk of the Obaku school who had found patronage with the Mito Tokugawa house. Its work has always been prayer, built around direction-warding and star rites rather than pilgrimage. Roughly two centuries ago, in the years after the Tenmei famine, the ninth abbot cut a wooden mould from a one-stroke Daruma drawing and taught farming families nearby to paper it, so they would have income through the winter. That side work grew into the Takasaki daruma trade.

Before you go

Cash: Walking the grounds carries no charge. The temple office and the Daruma-do were listed as open 9:00 to 17:00 when checked. Daruma and amulets are paid for in cash. Gunma-Yawata Station has a simple Suica reader, so an IC card covers the train.
Good to know: The approach is a slope with stone steps and no shelter, so it is slow going in rain or snow, and Takasaki's winter wind is hard and dry. There is no lighting after dark. During the January market the temple notice board warns of traffic restrictions in the surrounding streets.
Another way: From the west exit of Takasaki Station the city's Gururin loop bus runs a Shorinzan route and reaches the Shorinzan-iriguchi stop in about twenty minutes, where the temple approach begins. Arriving by car, the temple has a free car park.
After you get off: From Gunma-Yawata Station head south, pass under Route 18, cross the Usui River bridge and follow the signed lane up the far bank to the outer gate. The distance is under two kilometres and mostly flat until the final climb.