| OVER SEVENTEEN FINE temples and shrines are scattered throughout the town. Jion Ji Temple is home to a peaceful zen garden that is particularly beautiful in the autumn. An Yo Ji Temple is the largest wooden building in Gifu Prefecture and also hosts a small museum. You can virtually visit the magnificent garden in autumn from our new Virtual Visit page. (Please note that photography is not permitted in the temple, and visitors are requested to remain on the viewing platform and refrain from entering the garden.) |  |
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Jion Ji Temple in Autumn |
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Walking through the streets of the town will reveal several small street-side shrines including the water bathed Kahi by Shaku Choku, located near Shin Bashi bridge at the centre of town, near the Gujo Hachiman Kinenkan Tourist Centre. The small shrine includes a poem carved in stone constantly bathed in running water that commemorates a fire that destroyed half of the town north of the Yoshida River in 1919. | |
Sakyo Inari Shrine in
Sping |
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| Many shrines are especially colourful and interesting to visit during festivals, such as the Spring Festival held in April. The bell at Gochikuin temple has rung four times per day for the past one hundred years. Daily life in Gujo Hachiman is punctuated by the sound of this bell, without fail, at 5:00 am, Noon, 5:00 pm and 9:00. |
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Gochikuin Temple in
Sping rain |
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Many temples have beautiful gardens to enjoy year 'round. Autumn is particularly colourful with displays of red and yellow leaves. Visitors in Spring will be rewarded with beautiful cherry blossom displays. Gujo Hachiman's mountain location means that the best time to view the Spring Cherry blossoms is early to mid April - long after they are over in the areas around Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo. |
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Daijo Ji in Autumn |
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| Visitors to these small temples and shrines can experience calm and tranquility not possible in a large urban setting. |  |
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An Yo Ji in Late Autumn |
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