Visiting Eiheiji Temple

Take a break from the bustling cityscapes for a tranquil buddhist temple tucked away in a century old cedar forest. Here’s what you need to know about visiting Eiheiji temple.

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Eiheiji Temple History

Daihonzan Eihei-ji is a Buddhist temple practicing Sōtō Zen, which is the largest sect of the three traditional Japanese practices of Buddhism. The temple was opened in 1244 by Zen Master Dōgen and has continued its zen monastic practices ever since. Over one hundred monks are presently practicing at the very active monastery.

The temple is a series of 70 buildings interconnected with a covered but open aired hallways. Ornate carvings and gorgeous lush landscaping are found throughout the grounds.

Where is Eiheiji Temple

Outside of the city of Fukui, tucked away in the cedar covered mountains is where you’ll find this centuries old Buddhist temple. It’s considered to be in the North Western side of Honshu, the main island of Japan in Fukui prefecture.

What you can do at Eiheiji Temple

Eiheiji Temple Gift Shop

Within the main atrium is a gift shop where guests can purchase incense and other souvenirs including a Goshuin; a traditional document proving you visited.

There is also a small selection of Eki stampu which are free to use. Loose paper was provided at the stamp stand but I chose to use my travel scrapbook moleskine instead.

Zazen Experience

Learn how to meditate the zazen way with this 50 minute sitting taught by the monks. Our session was arranged by the Hakujukan, the inn that we stayed at which I detailed here.

Though the instructions were in Japanese, we were able to surmise the basic mechanics. One of of which was putting our hands in the prayer position to request the Keisaku, a paddle that’s used to lightly hit you in order to stay awake. Later I learned that this was called the “encouragement stick” which I found hilarious and fitting. It works as designed.

Morning Ceremony

The morning ceremony is where all the sitting monks come together in the Hato for a recitation of the sutra. This includes chanting, incense offerings, and readings all of which were something to behold.

A few of the chants were real bangers too but you’ll have to take my word because recordings of any kind are forbidden. Which is all the more reason to see it first hand yourself!

Guest were able to participate in the incense offering portion as well. I felt incredibly stressed by this at first as I wanted to get the hand movements correct but we were able to watch the people in front of us and mimic that.

After the ceremony, the group is taken on a short tour of the temple including a few notable rooms. My favourite was the Shanshokaku (the reception hall). The coffered ceiling is covered in 230 individual paintings of flowers and birds.

Here is more information on booking zazen and the morning service via the temple’s website.

In addition to the everyday offerings, there are quite a few special dates on their schedule for different ceremonies. See the full temple schedule here.

Also, very important to check out the rules for visiting as well.

Eiheiji Temple Hours and Fees

General opening hours are from 8:30am – 4:30pm unless you have a scheduled visit for the morning session. The temple is open all year round excluding one day: January 1st.

Admissions are:

Adults – ¥700
8 – 18 yrs – ¥300
7 & under are free

Visiting Eiheiji Temple in the Winter

Our visit was in the middle of December and the first snow of the season happened overnight. We woke up at 3am to attend the morning ceremony and the town was blanketed in fresh snow. It was gorgeous but chilly especially early in the morning. Keep in mind that the hallways are open air at the temple and are drafty. Dress accordingly.

Where to stay when visiting Eiheiji Temple

The Sanro program offers limited spots for an immersive one night stay to practice zazen within the temple. There is more information about this experience on their website here.

We stayed at the Hakujukan hotel of Eiheiji Temple for our visit and it was sublime. It’s described as the “inn close to zen.” Our observance of the morning ceremony was arranged through the ryokan hotel which made things seamless. If that wasn’t nice enough, both breakfast and dinner were included in our stay. In keeping with the zazen experience, our meals were Buddhist cuisine which they specialize in.

How to get to Eiheiji Temple

Getting to Eiheiji temple is easy from Fukui train station. We took an Eiheiji liner bus which is akin to a Greyhound in North America aside from the fact that you can use a Suica card to pay for the trip.

The temple has a handy breakdown of instructions here.

Travel Tips for Visiting Eiheiji Temple

In retrospect, it would have been better to stay two nights rather than one. Our trip felt slightly rushed and we weren’t able to explore the village. There’s a soba noodle house across the street from the bus stop that looked really good. Learn from my mistakes! Happy travels 🙂

photographs – jesse sand + sandy joe karpetz