West Kagawa · ZentsujiNo.1179★★Open in map →

Zentsuji Temple

historyOff the trail — and worth it

The head temple of the Shingon Zentsuji school, standing on the ground where Kukai is held to have been born. Two walled compounds face each other across a street, and the grounds themselves are free to walk from seven in the morning.

FromTakamatsu Station
~1 hr 15 minJR train, then a 20 min walk
Get off atZentsuji Station (JR Dosan Line)
From there
Zentsuji Temple

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is the largest stop on the Kagawa stretch of the Shikoku pilgrimage, so it is not a find. It is quiet by hour instead: the Golden Hall opens at seven, an hour before the ticketed halls, and the pilgrimage coaches and school groups reach the west car park later in the morning.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Nandaimonthe formal south gate into the Garan, with the Four Heavenly Kings set at the corners of its eaves
The great camphorstwo trees north of the gate beside the Gosha Myojin shrine, said to be over a thousand years old
The five-storey pagoda43 metres and an Important Cultural Property; its central pillar hangs on chains, clear of the base stone
The Golden Hallthe main hall, plain outside and built around a seated Yakushi Nyorai about three metres tall
Mieido and the Kaidan-megurithe west compound's main hall, with a passage of about 100 metres running in darkness beneath it

How to actually get there

Takamatsu Station → Zentsuji Station (JR, about 45-60 min depending on the train, 850 yen).
Zentsuji Station → the south gate of the Garan (walk about 20 min).
Garan: south gate → the camphors → five-storey pagoda → Golden Hall.
Cross to the west compound for the Mieido, the underground passage and the treasure hall.

JR from Takamatsu to Zentsuji: Takamatsu Station → Zentsuji Station, 38.7 km, 850 yen at the time of checking. Local trains bound for Kotohira run through without a change in about an hour; the quicker combinations change once at Sakaide or Tadotsu and take roughly 45 to 55 minutes. Limited expresses on the Dosan Line also call here and cut the ride to about half an hour, with a surcharge on top of the fare.
Return from Zentsuji Station: The walk back is the same 20 minutes through the town grid. Evening services thin out earlier than a city traveller expects, and the last through runs to Takamatsu go well before the small hours, so read the departure board when you arrive rather than assuming a late train home.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

The precinct covers about 45,000 square metres and comes in two halves that face each other across a public street. The eastern half, the Garan, is the ground the temple was founded on, and holds the Golden Hall, the five-storey pagoda and a pair of vast camphor trees. The western half, the Tanjoin, stands on what is held to be the site of the Saeki family house where Kukai — later Kobo Daishi — was born, and is centred on the Mieido. Until the Meiji era the two were run as separate temples under separate abbots. With Toji in Kyoto and Koyasan, Zentsuji counts as one of the three great sites of the Kobo Daishi tradition.

How to enjoy it

Arrive for seven, when the Golden Hall opens, and take the Garan first — gate, camphors, pagoda, hall — while the light is still low. The underground passage and the treasure hall start at eight and their desk closes in the late afternoon, so the order settles itself: outside first, then across to the west compound. Leave the passage its own time; it is walked in complete darkness with one hand on the wall.

Background & history

By the temple's own record Kukai was born on this ground in 774, and work began in 807 on land given by his father, whose name — Yoshimichi — the temple carries. The founding halls were modelled on Qinglong temple in Chang'an, where Kukai had studied, and fire destroyed all of them in 1558. Rebuilding ran on under the daimyo houses that followed: the Golden Hall standing today went up in 1699. The pagoda is the fourth on its spot, begun late in the Edo period and finished in 1902.

Before you go

Cash: Walking the grounds is free. The Kaidan-meguri and the treasure hall share a single ticket, 700 yen for adults and 300 yen for school-age children at the time of checking, bought on the Mieido side. The visitor car park on the west side is charged separately.
Good to know: The passage under the Mieido is walked in total darkness, and its desk shuts before the halls do. The Garan is open ground with little shade. The pagoda's interior is not normally open, and is shown only on special occasions.
Another way: From Kotohira, the town below Konpira-san, Zentsuji is one stop back down the Dosan Line — about five minutes — which makes the two easy to pair in a day. By car it is roughly ten minutes from the Zentsuji interchange on the Takamatsu Expressway.
After you get off: From Zentsuji Station, walk south-west through the town grid for about 20 minutes on flat streets, and go in through the south gate of the Garan.