Kotohira-gu Shrine
Kotohira-gu Shrine
4.5
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
6:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
4.5
1,100 reviews
Excellent
530
Very good
478
Average
82
Poor
4
Terrible
6
Paul R
Brisbane, Australia123 contributions
Oct 2019 • Friends
We started out early to beat the tour groups which was a good call. Plenty of steps but take your time as the views of the surrounding countryside are superb. Various places to stop an rest as well as have a drink or get some food, souvenirs. Would recommend the visit.
Written 17 October 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jameshuang
Taipei, Taiwan2,004 contributions
May 2017 • Couples
Kotohira-gu Shrine (金刀比羅宮, ことひらぐう, also known as Konpira Shrine) is a Shinto shrine (神社) located at the Kagawa Prefecture (香川縣) in the smallest and least populous Shikoku (四國) of the four main islands of Japan. It is situated halfway up to Mt. Zozu-san (象頭山) at an altitude of 521 meters. The guardian deity for seafarers is enshrined here. It is also the headquarters of many branch shrines across Japan. During the Edo Period in the 18th century, making a pilgrimage to Konpira became quite popular. Even now hundreds of worshipers come from all over Japan.
We arrived at the starting point of the long stone steps around 11 am and borrowed a wooden walking stick at one of the stores where we planned to have lunch after the climbing. Almost all the stores supplied the free walking sticks as long as you return it after climbing and don’t need a deposit. It was quite an experience for us. We also learned that going up to the Main Sanctuary - Kotohira-gu Shrine - requires climbing 786 steps. There are many stores mainly selling food and souvenirs on the beginning of the stone steps. We didn’t feel tired with the window shopping. Gradually we felt it might be tough for my wife and me to climb up to the Main Sanctuary. The help of the walking sticks and stops at some smaller shrines and museums on our way to the destination really helped us to continue our journey. When we finally saw the big wooden 1878 rebuilt Main Sanctuary, we thought we reached the highest point of the Kotohira-gu Shrine. Here in the 786 steps’ Main Sanctuary is a complex with other small shrines. Nearby, there is a lookout where you can see the Sanuki Plain (讃岐平原) below and lots of people taking photos there. The big tree in front of the main shrine is the Camphor tree. The trunk is about 4.7 m (15 ft) high and the height is about 25 m (82 ft). Later, we learned that we didn’t reach the highest point that needs another 582 steps to the 1368 steps Okuyashiroizutama Shrine (奥社厳魂神社). I doubted we would have gone for another 582 steps to the Okuyashiroizutama Shrine even if we knew. We followed the same route back to the lunch location for the same 786 steps. Again, the wood sticks really made the journey much easier.
Make sure you bring a bottle of water and wear comfortable shoes to conquer the steps. The stone steps are very wide compared to other climbing we went. You can reserve 2 hours if you have time to visit Kotohira-gu Shrine. You can visit all the POIs along the stone steps to make the climbing more easy and enjoyable.
We arrived at the starting point of the long stone steps around 11 am and borrowed a wooden walking stick at one of the stores where we planned to have lunch after the climbing. Almost all the stores supplied the free walking sticks as long as you return it after climbing and don’t need a deposit. It was quite an experience for us. We also learned that going up to the Main Sanctuary - Kotohira-gu Shrine - requires climbing 786 steps. There are many stores mainly selling food and souvenirs on the beginning of the stone steps. We didn’t feel tired with the window shopping. Gradually we felt it might be tough for my wife and me to climb up to the Main Sanctuary. The help of the walking sticks and stops at some smaller shrines and museums on our way to the destination really helped us to continue our journey. When we finally saw the big wooden 1878 rebuilt Main Sanctuary, we thought we reached the highest point of the Kotohira-gu Shrine. Here in the 786 steps’ Main Sanctuary is a complex with other small shrines. Nearby, there is a lookout where you can see the Sanuki Plain (讃岐平原) below and lots of people taking photos there. The big tree in front of the main shrine is the Camphor tree. The trunk is about 4.7 m (15 ft) high and the height is about 25 m (82 ft). Later, we learned that we didn’t reach the highest point that needs another 582 steps to the 1368 steps Okuyashiroizutama Shrine (奥社厳魂神社). I doubted we would have gone for another 582 steps to the Okuyashiroizutama Shrine even if we knew. We followed the same route back to the lunch location for the same 786 steps. Again, the wood sticks really made the journey much easier.
Make sure you bring a bottle of water and wear comfortable shoes to conquer the steps. The stone steps are very wide compared to other climbing we went. You can reserve 2 hours if you have time to visit Kotohira-gu Shrine. You can visit all the POIs along the stone steps to make the climbing more easy and enjoyable.
Written 16 June 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
cleeve2017
St. Albans, UK126 contributions
Nov 2019
It's 785 steps to the Main Shrine with plenty of things to see on the way up. It's then another 583 steps to the Inner Shrine at the top where you can buys amulets not available anywhere else. It's a long tiring walk but there's plenty to keep you interested throughout and the views are impressive.
Written 21 November 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bambooscent
Paradise, CA192 contributions
Dec 2019
I went during momiji (red leaves) time so it was very beautiful. Some said it's very hard to walk up, but because there are areas for stops throughout I didn't find it bad
Written 20 December 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hugo Chan
Hong Kong, China461 contributions
Sept 2016 • Solo
The shrines were built along the hill-road. To visit the topmost shrine, it required visitors to walks more than 1300 steps. Admittedly, it was challenging for some. However, once you went to the top and see the scenic view of Kotohira-cho, you would have to agree it was worthy of a visit.
Written 16 September 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
felix v
Utrecht, The Netherlands11 contributions
Jul 2014 • Couples
The Shinto Shrine is definitely worth visiting. It's a beautifull Shrine and it's more than worth the climb up the several hundred stairs. After you've visited the shrine, leave Kotohira as soon as possible. The town is a touristtrap and a dreadfull place to stay the night. It's better to visit it on a daytrip from Takamatsu.
Written 30 July 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
hfot2 🌸🍁🌸
Vermont7,574 contributions
Mar 2014 • Couples
A complex of temples and ancillary buildings climbing up a steep hillside - it’s all about steps.
785 steps up (not counting the hundreds you have to climb through town to get to the start of the temple climb) steep and stone, to reach the main shrine, a splendid ancient pile spread across a broad level partway up the mountain. To the right a vantage point from which to marvel at vast view across the valley. To the left a curious open hall hung chockablock with plaques and photographs of ships, oil drilling platforms, ship engines, even Japan’s sky-sailing astronaut – anything connected with the seas. Also on the ground a sausage made somehow from umpteen gazillion recycled aluminum cans, now reformed into something that looks like a submarine covered with solar panels: this is a one-man sailboat in which some Japanese man crossed some enormous portion of the earth’s oceans, perhaps the whole shebang. All this nauticalia is here because the shrine is dedicated to the protection of sailors – way up here on the mountainside in the middle of Shikoku Island. Go figure.
We set out early from Marugame, arrived in Kotohira before the town had started to wake, and reached this level before the hordes of other tourists. Most visitors climb to the main shrine, pause for some photos, and go down again.
We climb to the Inner Shrine - another 583 steps up (1368 altogether). From the main shrine onwards the walk is through really very pretty, ancient forest, sun filtering down through contorted trees, a little rivulet trickling there, your birds, your occasional flowering shrub. There is quite a lot of walking on very shallow inclines, and the flights of steps are for the most part shorter, though the very longest reach of steps is in this route. And finally, at the very top, a tidy little ancient shrine nestled in under a cliff. On which, unaccountably, are carved a tengu with his phallic nose and a monkey. We spent a fair while here admiring the setting, the quiet, the birds.
Then down. We noted on the tourist map that there lies beside the stairway a big park of some sort. We’ve stepped off the stairs from time to time to photo some of the sakura there. Now it occurs to us that this park appears to descend to the plain in town by gradual increments along graveled paths.
We’ve missed the first opportunity to enter the park just above the main gate at the bottom of the temple route, because we want to take photos of the five ladies and five tables under five big parasols just inside the main gate: these are members of the five families anciently permitted to do business in the temple grounds, all apparently selling the same thing.
Below the main gate there’s another chance to try on the park. It proves a very good thing indeed. We soon leave behind the noisy, nasty tourist clatter of the route to the shrine and find ourselves in a sort of dreamscape. The park, which must be several hundreds of acres in size spread over a mountain with level patches and ravines, allées and cliffs, all covered in cherry trees just at peak or starting past it. For a touch of spice there are azaleas just bursting, tree peonies just at the end of their run, wild orchids…There are occasional breezes creating showers of petals… It is beautiful. This for us is the quintessential experience of sakura, private and alone and quiet in the midst of such wonders. It is unheralded and unexpected and entirely welcome.
785 steps up (not counting the hundreds you have to climb through town to get to the start of the temple climb) steep and stone, to reach the main shrine, a splendid ancient pile spread across a broad level partway up the mountain. To the right a vantage point from which to marvel at vast view across the valley. To the left a curious open hall hung chockablock with plaques and photographs of ships, oil drilling platforms, ship engines, even Japan’s sky-sailing astronaut – anything connected with the seas. Also on the ground a sausage made somehow from umpteen gazillion recycled aluminum cans, now reformed into something that looks like a submarine covered with solar panels: this is a one-man sailboat in which some Japanese man crossed some enormous portion of the earth’s oceans, perhaps the whole shebang. All this nauticalia is here because the shrine is dedicated to the protection of sailors – way up here on the mountainside in the middle of Shikoku Island. Go figure.
We set out early from Marugame, arrived in Kotohira before the town had started to wake, and reached this level before the hordes of other tourists. Most visitors climb to the main shrine, pause for some photos, and go down again.
We climb to the Inner Shrine - another 583 steps up (1368 altogether). From the main shrine onwards the walk is through really very pretty, ancient forest, sun filtering down through contorted trees, a little rivulet trickling there, your birds, your occasional flowering shrub. There is quite a lot of walking on very shallow inclines, and the flights of steps are for the most part shorter, though the very longest reach of steps is in this route. And finally, at the very top, a tidy little ancient shrine nestled in under a cliff. On which, unaccountably, are carved a tengu with his phallic nose and a monkey. We spent a fair while here admiring the setting, the quiet, the birds.
Then down. We noted on the tourist map that there lies beside the stairway a big park of some sort. We’ve stepped off the stairs from time to time to photo some of the sakura there. Now it occurs to us that this park appears to descend to the plain in town by gradual increments along graveled paths.
We’ve missed the first opportunity to enter the park just above the main gate at the bottom of the temple route, because we want to take photos of the five ladies and five tables under five big parasols just inside the main gate: these are members of the five families anciently permitted to do business in the temple grounds, all apparently selling the same thing.
Below the main gate there’s another chance to try on the park. It proves a very good thing indeed. We soon leave behind the noisy, nasty tourist clatter of the route to the shrine and find ourselves in a sort of dreamscape. The park, which must be several hundreds of acres in size spread over a mountain with level patches and ravines, allées and cliffs, all covered in cherry trees just at peak or starting past it. For a touch of spice there are azaleas just bursting, tree peonies just at the end of their run, wild orchids…There are occasional breezes creating showers of petals… It is beautiful. This for us is the quintessential experience of sakura, private and alone and quiet in the midst of such wonders. It is unheralded and unexpected and entirely welcome.
Written 8 June 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
StanleyAuckland
Auckland, New Zealand2,214 contributions
Nov 2012 • Couples
We were staying in Takamatsu so after visiting Ritsurin Koen, we caught a private line train from Ritsurin Station to Kotahira Station, fare 590 yen each.
There are 1,368 steps to the top but it's doable. There were many Senior Citizens, including us, who did the climb. There are great views from the top so it's well worth the effort. It took us about 50 minutes to reach the top which included brief stops to look at shrines and catch our breath.
On return to Takamatsu we took the same private line back to Kawara Machi Station, fare 610 yen each.
There are 1,368 steps to the top but it's doable. There were many Senior Citizens, including us, who did the climb. There are great views from the top so it's well worth the effort. It took us about 50 minutes to reach the top which included brief stops to look at shrines and catch our breath.
On return to Takamatsu we took the same private line back to Kawara Machi Station, fare 610 yen each.
Written 6 January 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MarkGroenewold
Takamatsu, Japan403 contributions
Nov 2018 • Family
Like many of the positive reviews here, I love this shrine. The walk up will take the good part of an hour or so (depending on your pace). And there are many things to see on the way up. Mini shrines are on the path, some for safety from fire, success in business, success in study, a shrine for music, etc. So, if you can figure out which is which, drop a coin and say a prayer. The trees are lovely, people are friendly, there are shops on the way, and the shrine itself is beautiful. Take your time to enjoy it. Crowds are heavy in January and in cherry blossom season, but you will have an unforgettable time whenever you go.
Written 24 December 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Camilo R
24 contributions
Nov 2017 • Couples
I will start by saying the only "Con" is parking. Some people might complain about traffic close to the shrine and how they had to park far away. Honestly I parked about 15 blocks away and it is what I recommend. Everything is an experience and the walk from the parking lot to the shrine should be treated as such. If you avoid the main covered road full of shops you will be glad you parked far away.
From architecture to little personal shrines, pachinko, and other oddities. We saw everything on the way. To be honest we like exploring and getting lost. Which we somewhat did here. Instead of going up the steps we went up the mountain side? It was more of a side road and without the steps it was quite the climb. But this meant we got to see the woods around and places that don't seem to get too much foot traffic. Eventually the road joins into the halfway point of the usually stair climb. We recommend doing this in the fall or winter, summer it is painfully hot and humid to be climbing so much. Once you hit the "top" level where everyone goes go ahead and see everything take a break and buy some souvenirs. When you've had enough KEEP CLIMBING. Yes there is more, on the right side of the main shrine there will be a path follow it up to the true. The view is well worth the extra effort.
We visited the shrine three times in total. We do recommend going up the side path and coming down the stars, that way you experience both and don't miss out on all the tiny stores at the foot of the stairs.
From architecture to little personal shrines, pachinko, and other oddities. We saw everything on the way. To be honest we like exploring and getting lost. Which we somewhat did here. Instead of going up the steps we went up the mountain side? It was more of a side road and without the steps it was quite the climb. But this meant we got to see the woods around and places that don't seem to get too much foot traffic. Eventually the road joins into the halfway point of the usually stair climb. We recommend doing this in the fall or winter, summer it is painfully hot and humid to be climbing so much. Once you hit the "top" level where everyone goes go ahead and see everything take a break and buy some souvenirs. When you've had enough KEEP CLIMBING. Yes there is more, on the right side of the main shrine there will be a path follow it up to the true. The view is well worth the extra effort.
We visited the shrine three times in total. We do recommend going up the side path and coming down the stars, that way you experience both and don't miss out on all the tiny stores at the foot of the stairs.
Written 6 August 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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