Centuries-old Buddhist temple & gardens known for fall colors & thousands of red Daruma dolls.

katsuoji

Omg this a wonderful place. Make sure you grab a postcard right at the entrance for FREE and collect the stamps on your way of each Station visit. Read the instructions before you walk the Circle to collect your wish, I saw many people just walked without reading the instructions lol. It is a fun place, nice view.

Super serene and peaceful temple located up on an mountain. Spacious and loads of mini darumas placed all over the temple ground! The daruma doll steps was breathtaking and beautiful. Definitely work waking up early to visit!

One thing to note, there was a long queue for bus to the temple and it was jam packed so make sure you manage and plan your time if you decide to to go.

I absolutely loved this temple! A must visit for anyone traveling to Osaka. It’s far from the city but the trip is worth it. We arrived shortly after it opened and were able to explore the area without tourists pouring from all directions. There are Daruma dolls ALL OVER the temple which offers endless opportunities to take picturesque photos. The temple spreads across a pretty large area and has different buildings so it took us about two hours to visit the entire site.

We took the subway to  Minoh Kayano station and from there we took a cab which was $15 usd and took 15 minutes to get there. You can also take the bus but it takes about 30 minutes, +/- wait time for it to arrive/depart. Cab was affordable and saved us a lot of time that we spent exploring other places.

One of the best temple experiences!!! It’s overwhelmingly wonderful and so fun to check out. I went solo and had so many reservations about it being worth it or not since the temple was VERY out of the way but fortunately I found it well worth it. You will find it hilarious seeing the endless Darumas scattered around the temple grounds…it’s so obnoxiously funny. There’s a little gift shop and they offer handwritten goshuins. I bought their goshuincho since the temple made such an impression on me. You’ll find plenty of cute charms and Daruma-themed souvenirs. Pro tip…go to the very top for a nice view. It was a hot day and it wasn’t part of the recommended visitor route so I didn’t see ANYONE at the top. Also do the postcard souvenir!!!! It’s free and you’ll regret not doing it!!!

It was absolutely amazing! This is my favorite place I’ve visited in Japan—so incredibly charming and beautiful.

The area wasn’t overly crowded, which made it easy to follow the paths and enjoy all the sights. I opted for a taxi from around the subway station, and it was definitely worth it to avoid the confusing bus schedules.

 Osaka, Minoh, Aomatani, 2914-1 勝尾寺

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