What Are Okunoin and Danjo Garan, and Why Is Koyasan a World Heritage Site?

Published 2026-10-04 · Sources checked 2026-10-04 · Treasure Hunting Co., Ltd.

This guide is for visitors who want to know what the main places on Koyasan are, and why the mountain is a World Heritage site. It covers the Great Gate, the Danjo Garan temple complex, Okunoin, and the UNESCO listing, using the temple's and UNESCO's own descriptions.

We used the official English pages of Koyasan Shingon Sect Main Temple Kongobu-ji, the Koyasan Shukubo Association and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. All pages were read on 2026-10-04.

How Koyasan began

The lodging association says Koyasan is an active monastic center, founded twelve centuries ago by the priest Kukai, who is known after his death as Kobo Daishi. It is the headquarters of the Koyasan sect of Shingon Buddhism.

The association says that in 816, Emperor Saga gave Kukai permission to set up a monastic complex on the mountain. Kukai climbed it that year with followers and laborers and began building. The association marks this as the founding of Kongobuji Temple.

The Great Gate

The temple says the Daimon, or Great Gate, marks the entrance to Koya. It was rebuilt in its present place in 1705 after the original gate burned. The temple gives its height as 25.1 meters. Two guardian figures stand on either side, and the temple calls them the second largest of their kind in Japan, after those at Todaiji.

Danjo Garan

The temple says Danjo Garan was the first site built when Kobo Daishi opened Koyasan as a monastery. It is said to express the world of the Womb Realm Mandala. The temple recommends visiting the halls in the order of an ancient text on proper pilgrimage.

• Chumon gate. A fire in 1843 destroyed it. It was rebuilt for the 1,200th anniversary of Koyasan's founding, after about 170 years.
• Kondo. The central hall since the middle Heian period. The current building dates from 1932 and has a ferroconcrete core, chosen because of earlier earthquakes and fires.
• Konpon Daito. The temple says this pagoda took from 816 to 887 to build, and may be Japan's first square two-storied pagoda. Kobo Daishi called it a representation of the universe.
• The Daito bell. Cast in 1547, with a diameter of 2.12 meters, and called the fourth largest bell in Japan. It is rung five times a day, at 4:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM. In the spring equinox period the 5:00 PM bell rings at 6:00 PM.

The temple also notes a pine tree called Sanko no Matsu, where, according to the legend it tells, Kobo Daishi found a trident. Visitors treat fallen leaves from this tree as lucky charms.

Okunoin

The temple calls Okunoin one of the central pillars of faith on Koyasan, and says it is where Kobo Daishi is said to have entered the next world. The lodging association describes Okuno-in as an inner sanctuary set in a thick forest of massive cedars. It holds a vast cemetery with the tombs of many famous Japanese, including the samurai ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and memorials to soldiers killed in the Pacific War.

At the Torodo hall, the temple lists these hours:

• Normally 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The reception booth is open 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
• Memorial services with sutra chanting take place six times a day, at 9:00 AM, 10:20 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:40 PM, 1:40 PM and 2:40 PM.
• Extra evening openings, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, on August 13 and on October 1 to 3, for two lantern rites. The hall also reopens from midnight to 2:00 PM on New Year's Day.

The temple says times can change when other events are held. The temple's dress rule is strict at Okunoin, so read our guide to temple etiquette, dress and fees before you go.

The World Heritage listing

The lodging association says UNESCO added Koyasan to its World Heritage List on July 7, 2004, as part of "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range". UNESCO's description names three sacred sites in the Kii Mountains: Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, and Koyasan.

UNESCO says pilgrimage routes link them to the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto. It gives the length of those routes as 307 kilometers, covering 506.4 hectares. It says together they form a cultural landscape reflecting the fusion of Shinto and Buddhism, and a tradition of sacred mountains kept for 1,200 years.

The association adds that Koyasan is an important destination for pilgrims returning from the Pilgrimage to the 88 Temples of Shikoku.

What we could not verify, and therefore left out

• How long a walk through Okunoin takes, and the exact route length.
• Opening hours for the Reihokan Treasure Museum and Daishi Kyokai.
• The current autumn leaf conditions on the mountain.
• Whether the dates of the lantern rites are the same every year.

Related guides

• How do you get to Koyasan from Osaka, and get around the temple town?
• How should you dress and behave at Koyasan's temples? Photos, yukata and fees

Sources

All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.

1. Highlights (Koyasan Shingon Sect Main Temple Kongobu-ji) — (Daimon; Danjo Garan; Daito bell; Okunoin; Torodo hours)
2. About Koyasan: History & World Heritage (Koyasan Shukubo Association) — (founding; Okuno-in; 2004 listing)
3. Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, World Heritage List no. 1142 (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org; the site refuses automated link checks, so no link is given) — (three sites; 307 km; criteria)
4. Guide for Worship (Koyasan Shingon Sect Main Temple Kongobu-ji) — (dress rule at Okunoin)