Zentsuji Travel Guide

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Zentsuji Temple is very famous, because it is where the Priest Kukai (Kobo Daishi), the founder of Shingon Buddhism, was born, and he actually had the temple built here himself. Unfortunately the current temple is not his original, but the grounds are divided into two sections. The section you will enter first if coming from the parking lot is the newer section, with many modern structures and the bridge leading up to it. If you walk through this to the area with the pagoda, that is where more historical structures are located, so don't miss it by just seeing half of the complex. The grounds are quite extensive!

Around the older section are 88 statues. These statues each represent one of the 88 temples of the Shikoku Pilgrimage Route and there is sand from each temple under each statue, so visitors can "visit" each temple right here. Zentsuji is the 75th temple along the pilgrimage route.

Entrance is free.

Zentsuji's main station is Zentsuji Station. It can be reached via the Dosan Line from Takamatsu and Tadotsu (the station where you will need to change trains if traveling from Matsuyama ).

From Kochi, there are Limited Express trains that go directly to Zentsuji.

If traveling from Okayama, there are some Limited Express trains that go directly here, but you can also change trains at Takamatsu or Sakaide to reach Zentsuji.