Church

Zojoji Temple

Area: Tokyo, Japan

Mon: 09:00–17:00
Tue: 09:00–17:00
Wed: 09:00–17:00
Thu: 09:00–17:00
Fri: 09:00–17:00
Sat: 09:00–17:00
Sun: 09:00–17:00
Hours: The main hall is open for worship 06:00–17:30; Ankokuden Hall is open 09:00–17:00.
Price: The temple grounds and main hall are free; separate museum exhibitions charge admission.
How to visit: This is an active temple: visitors should put their palms together, bow, and pray quietly before the Buddha image. The main hall has an elevator, and wheelchairs are available on request.
Hours: Free entry
Hours: About 30–90 min

Why it is worth the detour

The Tokugawa family's principal funerary temple tells the story of shogunal power beneath the modern silhouette of Tokyo Tower.

Zōjō-ji is a significant Jōdo-shū Buddhist temple in Tokyo, known for its historical ties to the Tokugawa shoguns. It features the oldest wooden building in Tokyo and houses the graves of six Tokugawa shoguns.

What else is close by

The nearest places we have written up, with straight-line distance from here.

300 m
Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower in Minato.
1.3 km
Hamarikyu Gardens
This former shogunal duck-hunting ground contains Tokyo's last surviving seawater tidal pond and frames old Edo landscaping against skyscrapers.
1.7 km
Hibiya Park
Opened in 1903 as Japan's first Western-style modern urban park, Hibiya became a stage for concerts, demonstrations and mass politics.
1.8 km
Roppongi Hills
Mori Tower's 52nd-floor city view and Mori Art Museum, with Louise Bourgeois's giant spider «Maman» at the foot.
2.0 km
Tsukiji Outer Market
Although the wholesale fish market moved to Toyosu in 2018, these crowded lanes preserve the food culture of Tokyo's former kitchen.
2.1 km
Sukiyabashi Bridge Monument
This small monument recalls the bridge that carried travelers across Edo Castle's outer moat at the entrance to Ginza. The moat was filled and Sukiyabashi removed in 1958, turning a waterside gateway famous from the radio drama and film Kimi no Na wa into an ordinary patch of city ground.