Temples

In a shopping arcade, a modernized temple deeply tied to feudal Japan’s prominent warlords.

In the former treasury of a popular temple, a rare sculptural depiction of Kannon’s diverse avatars.

This surreal thumbs-up monument commemorates a shiatsu legend.

A single block in this stone staircase to the temple is mysteriously always wet.

Here lies Hattori Hanzō, a samurai who is remembered as a legendary ninja in today’s popular culture.

Feast your eyes on the centuries-old statues of the judges of hell.

A cluster of 18th-century temples with an underground shrine.

This 17th-century temple gave the area of Ganeshkhind its name.

This Theravada Buddhist temple is a peaceful oasis steeped in history.

A rare public effigy of “the Embracing Kangiten,” the erotic Japanese equivalent of Hindu god Ganesha.

The alleged site of the months-long imprisonment of a Japanese prince.

All that remains of Okinawa's royal temple are a restored gateway and a tall banyan tree.

Associated with one of Japan's most famous fairy tales, this temple is home to a statue purportedly brought from the undersea palace of the Dragon God.

An eclectic temple with Chinese architecture, Korean lion-dogs, an Indian god and a legendary 700-year-old tree.

The only natural gorge in metropolitan Tokyo, with lots of greenery and ancient burial chambers.

The first Confucian temple in Taiwan, founded by the son of a pirate lord, doubled as the island's first state-sponsored school.

A relatively young Buddhist temple on hilltop, dedicated to a statue relocated from Mount Atago.

An ancient temple of Lord Shiva was rediscovered in an excavation in 2003.