This is a really beautiful temple with lovely gardens surrounding it. The underground passage to search for the 'Key to Heaven" was amazing. We did it twice! It's not often you find yourself in such absolute complete darkeness. Even the walk up through the town of Nagano was interesting, with such a variety of shops, despite the bitter coldness of... More

Arriving early and seeing priests who had been conducting the early service walking under red umbrellas. The amazing "guardian" statues in the gateway. Finding the "Key to Heaven" in the Stygian darkness of the holy passageways under the temple.

Houses the 1st Buddhist image to come to Japan. Don't miss the underground 'kaidan-meguri'.

A rather rainy cool day in early-April meant few other visitors, but I loved it. Did the underground passage to the key to paradise with not another person around and think I understood the zen notion of the semi-pilgrimage in complete darkness.

When seeing this temple, include the garden to the left of the main hall.

Visited Zenko-ji on one of the most chilly & windy day this winter, snowing heavily and almost regret on my way from the bus stop. But once I'm on the elegant path leading to the main temple, I'm captured by the uniquely calm atmosphere and classically beautiful architectures and forgotten about all the hassles. The interior of the main temple... More

It's a must if you're in Nagano as it's steeped in 1400 years of history. buy the 500 (or is it 1000?) yen ticket and and do the crypt walk. Worth it.

We went at 6am to hear the morning ceremony - this was very limited so probably not worth getting up early for unless you plan to worship. We were jet lagged however and it was nice to have the temple almost to ourselves. We visited after a fresh snowfall and the place was just gorgeous. Cold though and no where... More

We visited Zenkoji last October and enjoyed our visit very much. The temple has a lovely approach with a cobbled road, shops and gardens. It is more spacious than some other temples we visited so this added to the feeling of space and calm. The main road leading to the temple from the train station is a nice walk -... More