Temple · Sakyo
Myomanji
妙満寺
Myomanji is the head temple of the Kenpon Hokke school, at 91 Iwakura Hataeda-cho in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto. Its official site records that its founder Nisshu Daishoshi established it in 1389 near Muromachi Rokujo in Kyoto as his main training temple, and that the temple moved to Iwakura in 1968. The Buddha-relic stupa, built in 1973, was modelled on the great stupa at Bodh Gaya in India and enshrines a Buddha relic. The Snow Garden at the main quarters is a dry landscape garden created by Matsunaga Teitoku; the official site notes that the Yuki no Kai gathering was held here in 1629 and calls Myomanji the birthplace of haikai poetry. It is about a five-minute walk from Kino Station on the Eizan line.
Good to know before you go
- notice.topic.q_who:myomanji
- At Myomanji, visitors queue from 15:00 and ring the bell in arrival order. ↗
- notice.topic.q_ticket:myomanji
- Myomanji: the City of Kyoto's official 2026 New Year's Eve bell list does not say whether numbered tickets or advance booking are needed. ↗
- notice.topic.q_cost:myomanji
- Myomanji: the City of Kyoto's official 2026 New Year's Eve bell list does not say whether ringing the bell or visiting costs anything. ↗
- notice.topic.q_all_night:myomanji
- Myomanji does not ring at midnight: its bell, called Toshiokuri no Kane, is rung in the daytime, 15:00–17:00 on December 31, and the temple closes at 17:00. ↗
- notice.topic.q_access:myomanji
- Myomanji: the City of Kyoto's official 2026 New Year's Eve bell list says nothing about transport to the temple on New Year's Eve. ↗
- notice.topic.q_rules:myomanji
- Myomanji: the City of Kyoto's official 2026 New Year's Eve bell list gives no on-site rules on photography, belongings or alcohol. ↗
- notice.topic.bell:myomanji
- Myomanji: the year-end bell here is called the Toshiokuri no Kane, the 'bell that sends off the year', and it is rung in daylight — 108 strikes between 15:00 and 17:00 on December 31. The temple also preserves the legendary Anchin-Kiyohime bell, recast at Dojoji in 1359, later buried and abandoned, then dug up in the Tensho era and brought to Myomanji (the official site does not say whether the bell rung in the afternoon is that historic bell). ↗
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