Regional discoveries | Value Village

Ishigaki

Torinji

The oldest temple in the Yaeyama Islands. The Nio figures at its sanmon gate were swept away by a tsunami and are said to have come back from the sea.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Yonaguni

Tindahanata

The westernmost island in Japan. A clifftop lookout that was a place of prayer from ancient times.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Naha

Naminoue

It stands on a Ryukyu limestone cliff jutting into the sea, facing the other world beyond the water.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Naha

Sueyoshigu

It stands at the end of a stone stairway through the forest. A stone ramp of a form peculiar to Ryukyu survives.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Naha

Shikinagu

Its deity was originally a cave. One of the eight shrines of Ryukyu.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Naha

Asato Hachimangu

The only Hachimangu among the eight shrines of Ryukyu.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Naha

Enkakuji

The funerary temples of the Ryukyu royal house. They were lost in the Battle of Okinawa, and the Hojo bridge and other remains survive.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Naha

Gokokuji (Naha)

Held to be the oldest temple in Okinawa. Bettelheim stayed here.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Kin

Kin Kannonji

It stands above a limestone cave, where awamori is laid down to age.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Ginowan

Futenma Cave

A limestone cave 280 metres long. You enter from behind the hall.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Yaese

Hakusui Utaki

An utaki that guards the village's water source.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Nanjo

Chinen Ukka

A spring carrying the tradition of the beginning of rice growing. A sacred place recorded in the Ryukyu-koku Yuraiki.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Ishigaki

Tojinbaka

A memorial to shipwrecked Chinese labourers. A shrine in brilliant colour.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Miyakojima

Ogamijima

The whole island is held sacred, and many places remain closed to entry.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Nanjo

Fubo Utaki

One of the seven great utaki of Ryukyu. To this day no one at all may enter.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Izena

Izena Tamaudun

The tomb of the ancestors of the second Sho dynasty, built against the rock.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Nanjo

Yuinchi

A place of worship whose name means filled to overflowing with abundance.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Kumejima

Hinukan

Okinawan houses keep a place in the kitchen for the god of fire. This preserves an old form of it.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Nanjo

Tamagusuku

The gateway is cut in the shape of a heart, and the sun of the summer solstice comes straight through it.

OkinawaShrines & Temples

Nakijin

Karaukaa

A place of worship surviving inside the castle. A castle was also a place of prayer.

HokkaidoArt & Crafts

Sapporo

Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art

The province's central art museum, known for holding the Ecole de Paris painter Pascin in depth, alongside Hokkaido artists and studio glass.

HokkaidoArt & Crafts

Sapporo

Migishi Kotaro Museum of Art

A single-artist museum for Kotaro Migishi, born in Sapporo and dead at 31 - his whole restless change of manner fits in a few rooms.

HokkaidoArt & Crafts

Sapporo

Sapporo Art Park Museum

Forty hectares of woodland holding both an indoor museum and 74 outdoor sculptures, half-buried in snow for part of the year.

HokkaidoArt & Crafts

Sapporo

Hongo Shin Memorial Museum of Sculpture

On the site of the sculptor Shin Hongo's own studio, holding the models for the monuments that stand in streets across Japan.

Shrines and temples: what is the difference?

Culture & history entries7,801 entries

Torinji

Tindahanata

Naminoue

Sueyoshigu

Shikinagu

Asato Hachimangu

Enkakuji

Gokokuji (Naha)

Kin Kannonji

Futenma Cave

Hakusui Utaki

Chinen Ukka

Tojinbaka

Ogamijima

Fubo Utaki

Izena Tamaudun

Yuinchi

Hinukan

Tamagusuku

Karaukaa

Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art

Migishi Kotaro Museum of Art

Sapporo Art Park Museum

Hongo Shin Memorial Museum of Sculpture

Shrines and temples: what is the difference?