Sairaiin (Daruma Temple) — Attraction in Naha

A peaceful visit with family prayers, history, and Goshuin adventures

My sons are here visiting me for the summer, so we’ve made it a mission to go around and visit as many temples as we can here on Okinawa before heading back to mainland Japan. We love doing this because it’s a way to learn more about the local history and culture and my boys especially enjoy collecting as many stamps as they can in their Goshuin (ご朱印) books. Every temple is like a new page in our family adventure.

Sairaiin (Daruma Temple) was perfect for us we had just welcomed another child into our family the day before, so coming here to show our gratitude for a healthy birth felt so right. We’d already made a prayer at a local temple back on the mainland, but to bring my sons here and do it together was really special.

A couple of tips: there’s plenty of parking, but it fills up fast and the roads around the temple are narrow with lots of daily visitors. Be patient, bring sunscreen and water the Okinawa heat is no joke!

Beautiful place for a heartfelt prayer, a step back into history, and another treasured stamp in our Goshuin books. Highly recommend for families exploring the...

Overall interesting, but too private and small. Lacks of spirit and character. Rather chaotic, with goods sold here and there in a chaotic way by judgemental elder staff and too many different little shrines inside (squeezed everything in one place to make more money I suppose: enmusubi, inari, god of money, god of health, praying for safe delivery, praying for exams, praying for road safety… no specialty here like at other temples). The omamori are mass-produced generic omamori of low quality, no originality here. I liked the daruma ema though so I purchased them. Goshuin is neat though! One exit leads to a private underground parking of a nearby house and it was confusing. Anyway, it’s a little bit of a tourist trap and designed to squeeze...

Not one for packed touristy places? This temple is just near Shuri Castle, and while the Castle grounds and gardens were stuffed with tourists, this temple only had a handful of locals praying (I was there around 10am).

Neat, tidy, beautifully cared for, with a wide arrange of representations of important characters/concepts that helps newcomers understand better this mysterious and yet welcoming tradition/culture.

While the castle and it's grounds are definitely impressive and a must-see, this temple is (for me) the highlight...