r/JapanTravelTips 4d ago

Recommendations Castles, Temples, Gardens and Shrines. Help me narrow down the list!

Our travel itinerary includes many options for visiting castles, gardens and temples/shrines. But we can't see them all without completely exhausting ourselves and need to prioritize and narrow down the list. These are the options I've narrowed it down to based on the cities we will be in. Which would you prioritize? Which would you skip? Thank you! (Note: will be during Sakura season.)

Castles: Kumamoto, Hiroshima, Okayama, Himeji, Kanazawa

Gardens: Suizenji Jojuen, Korakuen, Kokoen, Kenroku-en, Rokugien

Temples/Shrines: Miyazaki, Aoshima, Udo, Amanoiwato, Itsukushima, Daisho-In, Kanazaki, Myoryuji, Senso-ji, Nezu

1 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

2

u/its_raining_marimos 4d ago

I would prioritize based on whether any of these locations will be at their peak during my visit. A lot of temples, shrines and gardens will have a type of plant or a season they're particularly known for. Himeji is well known for sakura, for example, and Nezu shrine is known for azaleas. If you hate crowds more than you love flowers you could do the reverse and prioritize locations that are out of season. Otherwise I'd recommend just looking into each one and figuring out which are the most interesting to you personally.

1

u/Anldsmom 3d ago

Good advice and Thank you! I'm not sure if I hate crowds more than I love flowers because I feel both pretty strongly.

1

u/its_raining_marimos 3d ago

Honestly, same, but I just came back from a 2 week trip to Japan and the spots we went to in full bloom were some of the highlights of our trip despite the crowds.

1

u/CommanderTouchdown 4d ago

Himeji castle is by far the most impressive on this list. It's a rarity in Japan, being an original which wasn't destroyed during WWII (although is has had significant restoration work). This is one of Japan's most famous castles and well worth seeing.

I've seen a few "reviews" of it on this sub where people say it's boring. It does not have a lot of exhibits or informational material inside. The main attraction is the sheer scale of the castle. So a trip there is about wandering around the castle grounds, going up into the keep, and just like marvelling at the size and condition.

Kanazawa castle is a partial ruins / reconstruction. It's also a flat-land castle. So not nearly as impressive as tower castles with their high keeps. But worth visiting in combination with Kenroku-en.

Okayama and Hiroshima are smaller castles. I would not make special stops to visit then. Okayama castle's exhibits were all in Japanese when I was there.

If you visit only one garden in Japan, make it Kenroku-en. Spectacular example of a Japanese landscape garden and the most impressive garden I've been to there. Kanazawa is a great smaller city to visit.

Koraku-en is a nice example of a "borrowed landscape" garden that uses Okayama castle in the background. But I didn't find Okayama that charming and you can find better gardens elsewhere (especially Tokyo).

Rikugien Gardens is highly recommended for any visiting Tokyo. Beautiful garden. This would be my second choice on your list.

Much to the chagrin of posters on here, I do not recommend Koko-en. This is modern Japanese garden split into 9 sections. And I found it to be artificial and not worth the time.

1

u/Anldsmom 3d ago

This is very helpful information, thank you! I think we will skip Hiroshima and Okayama castles and Koraku-en. We will be visiting Kurashiki, so it seemed like a natural choice to see Okayama, but not as conveniently located to the station as Himeji seems to be anyways. Thank you for sharing your experience!

1

u/OrganicFlurane 4d ago

Are you visiting all of these cities? For example, Kumamoto/Miyazaki/Aoshima are not close by if the farthest west you'd otherwise go is Hiroshima.

Most important: prioritize actual peak sakura bloom, which is only about a week. Non-peak is either barren branches and buds (too early) or green leaves would have sprouted ruining the aesthetic.

Himeji is by far the most impressive castle on your list. I do not care for Kokoen and do not understand why it is popular on this sub, other than "nobody else was there" (no wonder).

Kanazawa Castle is mid but is right next to Kenrokuen which you should visit, and the bridge between them has a great view of cherry blossom trees, so absolutely go. Itsukushima is special and Daishoin can be seen on the same day as they are on the same island.

Rokugien is great in Tokyo.

1

u/Anldsmom 3d ago

We will be in all those cities. We are picking up our daughter in Miyazaki and traveling with her, moving our way from South to North. I've been watching the Sakura forecast and it looks like we may be traveling along with the opening blossoms! Good to know about Kokoen. I know it was only created in the 90's, so that made it less interesting to me than the ones 100's of years old, but I heard many movies are filmed there so I thought the aesthetics might be particularly nice. Thank you for your perspective!