Must-see attractions · Mount Koya
10 attractions with a verified description
Mount Koya · Free
The largest cemetery in Japan: 200 thousand gravestones covered in moss under cedars hundreds of years old, along a path of two km. Free and always open. Start from Ichinohashi bridge and not from the parking lot, and that makes all the difference.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mount Koya · Temple
The head temple of the Shingon sect: rooms with doors painted with gold leaf, a kitchen that fed 2,000 monks, and the largest rock garden in Japan (140 rocks). ¥1,000, including tea and a sweet in the guest room.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Tomomarusan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)
Mount Koya · Free
The sacred precinct that Kobo Daishi planned in 816, the heart of the mountain: pagodas, halls and a pine tree on which, according to the legend, the ritual tool he threw from China landed. The grounds are free, and entry to the Golden Hall and to the Daito pagoda is ¥500 each.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Mount Koya · Temple
A vermilion pagoda 48.5 meters tall in the heart of the Danjo Garan, with a three-dimensional mandala of statues and paintings on the pillars inside it. ¥500. One of the most impressive interiors in Japan, and almost always empty.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Naokijp / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Mount Koya · Free
The Hall of Lanterns (Torodo) at the end of the cemetery, with more than 10,000 burning lanterns, and behind it the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi. Free. Photography is forbidden beyond the last bridge, and this is strictly kept.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mount Koya · Museum
The treasure museum of Mount Koya: statues, scrolls and mandalas from the 9th century onward, many of them National Treasures. ¥1,300. The display changes with the seasons, and this is the place to understand Buddhist art.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: 663highland / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)
Mount Koya · Historic building
Two carved mausoleums from 1643, of Ieyasu and of his son Hidetada, at the edge of the town. ¥200. Small and ornate in the style of Nikko, and almost no one gets to them.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mount Koya · Free
The main gate, 25 meters tall, at the western end of the town, with two carved guardians. Free. Next to it is a viewpoint over the mountains of Wakayama, and the sunset from there is the most beautiful moment of the day in Koya.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Nagono / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Kudoyama · Free
A temple at the foot of the mountain in Kudoyama, where women prayed when they were not allowed to go up. Free. It is known for dozens of embroidered breast-shaped figures that women donate for health, and it is a stop on the Choishimichi pilgrimage trail.
Price checked September 2026
Photo: Naokijp / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Mount Koya · Free
A circular trail of 7 km around the mountain, which women walked when they were forbidden to enter the town, until 1872. Free. Forest, lookouts and quiet, and this is the way to see Koya from above.
Price checked September 2026