Eko-in Temple (Pilgrim's Lodging)

Eko-in is a Buddhist temple lodging on sacred Mount Koya in Wakayama Prefecture, offering visitors the rare experience of staying overnight in a working temple. Guest rooms are traditional tatami spaces with futon bedding, sliding shoji screens, and garden views, providing simple but deeply peaceful accommodation. The temple includes a meditation hall where guests can join morning prayer services starting at dawn, an experience that resonates long after you leave. Eko-in is also renowned for its guided nighttime tour of the nearby Okunoin cemetery, where thousands of moss-covered stone monuments line a cedar-shaded path leading to the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism.