Byodoin map: where everything is

Suggested order

1. 1ACome in through the Main Gate and buy admission.
2. 2BGo straight to the interior reception and buy your Phoenix Hall time slot.
3. 3DWalk round the pond: the front view of the hall is from the east bank.
4. 46See the Hoshokan Museum: the original bodhisattvas, phoenixes and bell.
5. 51Be at the Phoenix Hall 5 minutes before your session.

Based on the temple's own model course, with the interior ticket moved to the start. On busy days the queue forms at the interior reception (B).

All places

• 1Phoenix Hall 鳳凰堂National Treasure · outside free with admission · inside: separate ticket

  Built in 1053 by the regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi as a hall for Amida Buddha, and the main reason people come. It stands on an island in Aji Pond, so it is reflected in the water. Going inside needs the interior ticket from the interior reception (B).

  How the interior tickets workShow on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 2Jodoin Temple 浄土院

  One of Byodoin’s sub-temples, said to have been founded in the late 15th century by the Jodo priest Eiku to restore Byodoin. It looks after several cultural properties, including the Yorin-an Shoin paintings.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 3Rakan-do Hall 羅漢堂Uji City Cultural Property

  Built in 1640 by Hoshino Dosai, one of Uji’s tea merchants (chashi), and his sons. Its main timbers are original, and the dragon painted on its flat ceiling has kept its colours.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 4Yorin-an Shoin 浄土院養林庵書院Important Cultural Property · not open to the public

  A study hall said to reuse parts of Momoyama (Fushimi) Castle. Its wall and door paintings are thought, from their style, to be by Kano Sansetsu. You can only see it from outside.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 5Kannon-do Hall 観音堂Important Cultural Property · not open to the public

  Rebuilt in the early Kamakura period on the site of the temple’s original main hall: a plain building in a formal classical style. Its repair work ended in March 2026; the temple expects to rededicate it in spring 2027 or later.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/news/cat1/2024

• 6Hoshokan Museum 平等院ミュージアム鳳翔館Included in admission · 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:45)

  Opened in 2001, mostly underground so it doesn’t spoil the view. This is where to see the originals up close: 26 of the bodhisattvas on clouds, the pair of phoenixes and the temple bell, all National Treasures. No photos inside. On busy days the video room and the excavated-artifacts corner may be closed.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/museum/

• 7Saishoin Temple 最勝院

  The other of Byodoin’s two sub-temples, an independent temple of the Tendai school. It dates from 1654, when a monk from Shosen-in (Jushin-in) in central Kyoto moved here and named his lodging Saishoin.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 8Fudo-do Hall 不動堂

  The main hall of Saishoin, dedicated to Fudo Myoo, with a statue of the mountain ascetic En no Ozunu beside it. The small Jizo-do next door houses a seated Jizo.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 9Grave of Minamoto no Yorimasa 源頼政の墓

  In 1180 Yorimasa rose against the Taira clan, was defeated at Uji and took his own life at Byodoin. A memorial service is held here every year on 26 May.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 10Ogi-no-Shiba (Fan Lawn) 扇の芝

  The lawn where Yorimasa is said to have spread out his war fan and written his farewell poem before he died. The poem, in romaji: “Umoregi no / hana saku koto mo / nakarishi ni / mi no naru hate zo / kanashikarikeru”. In our translation: “Like a buried log that never flowered, my life has come to nothing: how sad its end.”

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 11Hoshokan Museum entrance 鳳翔館入口No pin: position not confirmed

  The museum (6) has its own entrance in the garden. We haven’t been able to confirm exactly where it is from map data, so it has no pin yet.

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/watch/

• 12Tea Room Toka 茶房 藤花10:00–16:30 (last order 16:00) · closed Mon–Wed except public holidays

  The temple’s own tea room, serving Uji green tea; a bowl of Uji matcha, served with the temple’s own dry sweets, is ¥1,000. Closing days can change with the season.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/touka/

• 13Goshuin office 集印所No pin: position not confirmed

  Where you get a goshuin, a temple stamp with brush calligraphy, as a record of your visit: ¥300, 9:10–17:00 (last 16:45; it can close earlier when the queue is long). Whether it is written into your own book or given on a ready-written sheet varies by day. There are two designs: Phoenix Hall and Amida Buddha. We haven’t confirmed the office’s position from map data, so it has no pin.

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/guide/goshuin/

• AMain Gate (Omote-mon) and ticket office 表門・拝観受付

  The usual way in, at the end of the Omotesando. Buy admission here (¥700 adults). If you leave to eat while waiting for your interior session, this is where you show your interior ticket to get back in.

  Show on the map

  Source: openstreetmap.org/way/332883359

• BPhoenix Hall interior reception 内部拝観受付Go here first · tickets from 9:10

  Where the timed tickets for the inside of the Phoenix Hall are sold, ¥300, same day only. Come here straight after the gate: on busy days this is where the queue forms and where tickets run out. Ask for the English leaflet here.

  Times, waits and what you’ll see insideShow on the map

  Source: openstreetmap.org/way/332883362

• CSouth Gate 南門

  A second gate, by the museum and the tea room. The temple’s own walking course says you can also go in or out this way.

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/around/hear/

• DPhoto spot: the hall across the pond 撮影スポット

  The Phoenix Hall faces east across the pond. From the east bank you get the classic front view with its reflection in the water. Photos of the inside of the hall, even from out here, are not allowed.

  Show on the map

  Source: mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/R1-00383.html

• EWisteria trellis 藤棚Spring

  Byodoin’s wisteria flowers in spring. The temple’s seasonal flower map shows wisteria among its spring flowers; check it for this year’s timing.

  Temple’s seasonal flower mapShow on the map

  Source: openstreetmap.org/way/332883347

• FBell tower 鐘楼

  The bell tower in the garden. The temple bell that is a National Treasure is the one displayed inside the Hoshokan Museum (6).

  Show on the map

  Source: byodoin.or.jp/en/museum/

• WCToilets (north) トイレ

  Next to the interior reception (B).

  Show on the map

  Source: openstreetmap.org/way/332883367

• WCToilets (south) トイレ

  Near the South Gate (C) and the tea room.

  Show on the map

  Source: openstreetmap.org/way/332883358

Descriptions are our own, from the temple's guide to the grounds and pages linked above. Positions are from OpenStreetMap; places we couldn't position have no pin. Checked 20 October 2026.

Before you go