Myouryuji
Myouryuji things to do, attractions, restaurants, events info and trip planning
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Myōryū-ji, commonly known as Ninja-dera, is a Buddhist temple belonging to Nichiren sect located in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. While not actually associated with ninjas, the temple earned its nickname because of its many deceptive defences.
attractions: Naga-machi District, Nomura-ke Samurai Residence, Daiwa Korinbo Store, Nishi Chaya District, APA HOTEL KANAZAWA-CHUO, The Kanazawa Theatre, Ninja Weapon Museum, Hands Kanazawa Store, Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture, Saigawa-Ōhashi Bridge, restaurants: Grill Otsuka, Itaru, Turban Curry Main Store, Uchuken Syokudo, Akadama Honten, The Godburger, Hama Sushi Kanazawa Nakamura shop, Amanatto Kawamura, 片町居酒屋 魚ぎゅう, Itaru Honten
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Myōryū-ji, commonly known as Ninja-dera, is a Buddhist temple belonging to Nichiren sect located in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. While not actually associated with ninjas, the temple earned its nickname because of its many deceptive defences.
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Have heard a lot about this "Ninja Temple" that is totally unrelated to any Ninja history. Finally visited this amazing, very well thought out architecture. Follow the following advice and you will be fine. Firstly, due to the overwhelming number of visitors, you will be denied entry without a proper reservation and reservation can only be done via the PHONE, no emails or internet or any other ways. You need to speak Japanese and only Japanese over the phone for reservation. Get a Japanese speaker if you can't speak Japanese. Be prepared for a very rude receptionist who is not very welcoming to any non Japanese speaking folks. If you speak Japanese, just bypass her attitude and get the reservation time, number of people attending. Not worth your time or effort over the rude receptionist. Arrive 5 to 10 minutes before the entrance time with the exact number of reserved guests and report your reservation name to the staff. You will need to pay 1000 yen per person here. You will be seated accordingly and arranged into separate groups and you can asked for a English or Chinese instruction booklet. The staff will play a pre recorded Japanese introduction of the history of temple. After the recorded introduction has ended, the staff will proceed to explain various interesting features of the temple. Foreigner groups are separated to be either at the front of the tour or at the back of the tour. Each group will be lead by a respective staff who will only explain the details in JAPANESE. Do not speak loudly, whisper in the lowest audioable tone. Do not touch anything like walls or pillars, do not open doors or enter restricted zone and you will be fine. The very old temple has an amazing layout crammed into a tiny 3.5 storey architecture that has 23 rooms and a ton of hidden stairs. Roofs are very low on certain rooms so watch your head. Some floors have very thin and creaky floors so be extra careful. The tour will end in approximately 40 minutes and besides the rude receptionist, most of the staffs are very friendly and accommodating.
Daniel YeohDaniel Yeoh
10
I read through reviews before coming so: Our hotel staff helped us secure reservations first off. And it definitely seemed necessary, as there were lots of people. I never encountered any rude staff. Our guide was very friendly and tried to use some English here and there although it wasn't necessary for our group. The booklet they give is pretty much on for translation. Others mention the guides have some humor/are fun, and you do miss out on this if you don't know any Japanese at all but it isn't necessary and your understanding and enjoyment of the tour won't be any less overall. That said, this place is a well-oiled machine churning out the tourist groups. But as you make your way through the temple, it makes sense. The temple is quite small and it almost seems timed the way the groups will pass by each other perfectly as to not create a feeling of congestion or overcrowdedness. This is some high quality crowd control at its finest. As for the temple itself, it's really neat. There's nothing else quite like it. I think it's worth the cost to see at least once.
Yara BYara B
30
Another example of Japanese hospitality... when you arrive the only thing greeting you is the sign below and another paper with a set of 10 questions. You have to guess that you need to press the telecom button to speak to someone. The sign says nothing about English printouts that many reviews mention, so I decided to call and ask. The woman on the other end, even though speaking good English, completely ignored my question. She just kept going through the questions (name, how many, what time, acknowledge that the tour is offered in Japanese, etc). I tried to ask two more times with the same success. After all the info she announced that the next tour is at 4 (seems like they are running on an hour). It was 50 min of wait so I decided to skip this tour of questionable enjoyment. A French family who arrived before me did not even try to call. The father just read that the tour is in Japanese only and they left...
Ekaterina HazardEkaterina Hazard
90
Cool temple that offers guided tours showing the secret passages and traps of the main building. The temple was built in the 17th century as a defensive post, but under the guise of being a Buddhist temple. Small, hidden stairways, fake doorways, and traps are scattered around the building. Tours are done every hour, but only in Japanese. Other languages, including English, are available in pamphlet form. It shows the main stops of the tour and some text of the background, but unfortunately it feels like you do miss a lot of information which is only spoken in Japanese. The tour took about 40 minutes, not including about a 15 minute wait. You need to sign up in advance, so I would recommend calling ahead. Oftentimes it's possible to sign up same day, even on site, but you run the risk of the tour being fully booked. Entry for the tour cost 1,200 yen.
Johan BjörefeldtJohan Björefeldt
20
Extraordinary, must-see !!! In contrast to all other temples, the Ninja Temple is different! In these times, only two stories buildings were allowed to be built. From outside, this is fulfilled. But inside there are 29 (!) staircases on seven levels resulting in four stories plus mid-stories. Besides this, there are so many tricks implemented in this building to hide and escape and … further I do not disclose here. Surely, worship is the focus on the building. Suggestion: make a reservation in advance to ensure no waiting time. Otherwise you need to make an reservation locally via intercom and you may need to wait for the next available spot. Only drawback: Tour guide only speaks Japanese. Mitigation: you will get a booklet with pictures and explanations, so you can follow the tour nicely.
Erich HermannErich Hermann
00
Man muss vorab anrufen um einen Platz zu reservieren. Die Reservierung klappte ohne Probleme auf Englisch. Alle halbe Stunde beginnt der Einlass. Nach Bezahlung wartet man eine kurze Zeit bis man in Gruppen zur Besichtigung eingeteilt wird. Als Ausländer bekommt man ein Handbuch in Englisch, Deutsch, Spanisch oder Französisch (möglicherweise auch noch andere Sprachen). In diesem Handbuch werden die wichtigsten Punkte der Tour beschrieben. Die geführte Tour findet auf Japanisch statt. Die versteckten Türen, Räume, Wege und Fallen waren sehr interessant und sehenswert. Leider kam es so vor als würde man die japanischen Gäste in Bezug auf die Tour bevorzugen. Die japanischen Gäste wurden meist vor die sehenswerten Sachen gesetzt und auf japanisch erklärt während man selbst das Handbuch mit Erklärung laß. Als die Tour weiterging und man auch mal die sehenswerten Sachen sehen wollte wurde man förmlich weitergescheucht. Als meine Partnerin als letzte der Gruppe ging und sich die Sachen noch etwas ansah, kam es so vor als wäre der Tourführer genervt gewesen und sprach auf japanisch mit den anderen Gästen und wartete auf Sie. Auch fand ich man hetzte förmlich von Raum zu Raum. Man hatte kaum Zeit sich die Sachen wirklich anzusehen, weil die nächste Gruppe schon im Raum davor war. Zum krönenden Abschluss sah’s ein anderer deutscher Touristen noch auf der Außentreppe des Gebäudes. Dieser wurde auch weggescheucht er solle bitte im Außenbereich warten. Er teilte mit das seine Schuhe nicht mehr da sind. Dies war den Mitarbeitern aber scheinbar egal. Die Person suchte sich dann irgendwelche Schuhe die ähnlich aussahen. Keinerlei Hilfestellung, gerade in einem Land was eher verachtend blickt wenn man Barfuß in den Straßen laufen würde. Das war bisher die schlechteste Erfahrung von japanischer Höflichkeit die ich erlebt habe. Es kann sein das es bei anderen Tourführern anders gewesen wäre und es Personen abhängig ist. Das Gebäude hat jedenfalls viel zu bieten, nur die Zeit ist meiner Meinung nach zu knapp bemessen. Gerade auch für Ausländer die das Handbuch vielleicht noch mitlesen müssten. Es kommt halt vor als wäre es eine reine Geldmaschine, schnell Gäste rein, schnell raus, schnell neue rein. Aufgrund der einfachen Reservierung, dem trotzdem vorhanden Handbuch und dem interessanten Gebäude bekommen Sie 3 Sterne. Ansonsten wäre es deutlich schlechter geworden.
Patrick FiedlerPatrick Fiedler
20
Nearby Attractions Of Myouryuji
Naga-machi District
Nomura-ke Samurai Residence
Daiwa Korinbo Store
Nishi Chaya District
APA HOTEL KANAZAWA-CHUO
The Kanazawa Theatre
Ninja Weapon Museum
Hands Kanazawa Store
Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture
Saigawa-Ōhashi Bridge
Naga-machi District
4.2
(1.8K)Click for details
Nomura-ke Samurai Residence
4.3
(1.7K)Click for details
Daiwa Korinbo Store
3.8
(1.5K)Click for details
Nishi Chaya District
3.6
(1K)Click for details
Nearby Restaurants Of Myouryuji
Grill Otsuka
Itaru
Turban Curry Main Store
Uchuken Syokudo
Akadama Honten
The Godburger
Hama Sushi Kanazawa Nakamura shop
Amanatto Kawamura
片町居酒屋 魚ぎゅう
Itaru Honten
Grill Otsuka
4.0
(853)Click for details
Itaru
4.2
(720)Click for details
Turban Curry Main Store
4.2
(663)Click for details
Uchuken Syokudo
4.1
(630)Click for details
Reviews
Overview
4.2
(1.8K reviews)
Phone
+81 76-241-0888
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Website
myouryuji.or.jp
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