This pretty hillside temple, set around a garden, offers both simple but nicely done-up rooms and pricier en-suite rooms with newly updated facilities. It's run by a bunch of friendly young monks keen to engage travellers in their culture. There are free evening meditation sessions in English and morning fire rituals. A single-traveller surcharge is ¥2000. The nearest bus stop is Ichi-no-hashi-guchi.
Ekō-in
Top choice in Kii Peninsula
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.02 MILES
Oku-no-in, whose name means 'inner sanctuary', is perhaps the most intensely spiritual place in Japan. At its farthest reaches is the Gobyō, the crypt…
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The wooden, thatched roof gate here is as far as you can go in Oku-no-in. Beyond it lies the crypt Kōbō Daishi entered in 835, never to leave. Pilgrims in…
0.84 MILES
The name of this temple, which is sometimes called Danjo Garan or Dai Garan, derives from the Sanskrit saṅghārāma, which means monastery. With eight…
0.8 MILES
The most interesting structure at the Garan is the Konpon Daitō, a 50m-tall, bright-vermilion pagoda seated at what is considered to be the centre of the…
0.56 MILES
This is the headquarters of the Shingon sect and the residence of Kōya-san's abbot. The main gate is the temple's oldest structure (1593); the present…
Nearby Kii Peninsula attractions
0.14 MILES
This simple stone bridge marks the entrance to the sacred Oku-no-in complex.
0.56 MILES
This is the headquarters of the Shingon sect and the residence of Kōya-san's abbot. The main gate is the temple's oldest structure (1593); the present…
0.65 MILES
This bridge marks the halfway point between Ichi-no-hashi and the inner sanctum of Oku-no-in.
0.73 MILES
These adjacent mausoleums were completed in 1643 at the behest of the third Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, for his grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and…
0.73 MILES
Several important artworks from Kōya-san's temples are collected here, most notably some Heian-era wooden sculptures of the Buddha and Fudō Myō-ō…
0.8 MILES
The most interesting structure at the Garan is the Konpon Daitō, a 50m-tall, bright-vermilion pagoda seated at what is considered to be the centre of the…
0.82 MILES
The Garan's kondō is the temple's main hall and enshrines Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine and healing. First constructed in the early 9th century,…
0.84 MILES
This temple gate was renovated for Kōya-san's 1200th anniversary in 2015, after an 1843 fire. Two of the original statues of guardian kings enshrined in…