Onjoji Temple (Mii-dera)

Onjoji Temple, Better Known as Mii-dera

Onjoji Temple (Mii-dera) is the head temple of the Tendai Jimon school, spread across the lower slopes of Mount Nagara in Onjojicho, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture; its Golden Hall was rebuilt in 1599, and the grounds hold 20 historic buildings covered by 4 National Treasure and 9 Important Cultural Property designations.

The formal name is Nagarasan Onjō-ji (長等山園城寺), but almost everyone, locals included, calls it Mii-dera (三井寺). The temple explains the nickname through a spring said to have supplied the first bathwater for three seventh-century sovereigns, Emperors Tenji, Tenmu and Jitō. That spring still rises beneath the Akaiya well house, just west of the Golden Hall.

Tradition places the founding in the seventh century. In the ninth, the monk Enchin, honored as Chishō Daishi, deposited the scriptures he had brought back from Tang China here and gave the community its footing. His followers split from the monks on Mount Hiei in the late tenth century, and Onjoji has led the "Jimon" (temple gate) branch of Tendai Buddhism ever since, a rival and counterpart to Enryakuji.

A Temple Reassembled in Five Years

List the year each of Onjoji's 20 buildings was either built or brought to the site, and a pattern jumps out: 11 of them fall between 1598 and 1602.

In 1595 Toyotomi Hideyoshi abruptly confiscated the temple's lands, and the community lost its estates and halls. After Hideyoshi died in 1598, the monks were allowed to rebuild. The Daishidō in the Tōin precinct went up first; in 1599 Hideyoshi's widow, known as Kita no Mandokoro, paid for a new Golden Hall. The Akaiya and the Kangakuin guest hall followed in 1600, and the Kōjōin guest hall in 1601.

What makes the site unusual is how much of it arrived from elsewhere. The Great Gate began life at Jōrakuji, another Ōmi temple, before Hideyoshi moved it to Fushimi Castle. The Three-Storied Pagoda was the east pagoda of Hisodera in Yoshino and took the same detour through Fushimi. Tokugawa Ieyasu gave both to Onjoji in 1601. In 1602 the warlord Mōri Terumoto shipped a sutra repository here from Kokuseiji in Yamaguchi. Rebuilding a major temple in a handful of years meant borrowing finished buildings wherever they could be found.

A few structures sit outside that burst of activity. The Shinra Zenshindo in the northern precinct was rebuilt in 1347 and predates the confiscation by centuries. The pilgrims' compound around the Kannondo in the southern precinct took shape gradually after 1689.

North, Middle and South: Finding Your Way Around Onjoji

In the Middle Ages the temple was divided into three precincts: Hokuin (north), Chūin (middle) and Nan'in (south). Visitors today spend most of their time in the middle and southern areas; only the Shinra Zenshindo stands apart.

The route the temple recommends enters through the Great Gate on the east side, passes the bell tower of the famous Evening Bell of Mii, the Golden Hall and the Akaiya, then continues to the Tōin precinct and the pagoda before the treasure house and the climb south. In terms of position, the Refectory stands just north of the Great Gate, the bell tower sits southeast of the Golden Hall and the Akaiya to its west. A short slope leads up to the sutra repository, with the Tōin and the pagoda to the south of it. The Kōjōin guest hall lies north of the Golden Hall and the Kangakuin guest hall further south than the Tōin.

Heading south, the path passes the small Bishamondo Hall before a flight of stone steps brings you to the pilgrims' compound on a terrace. From the front of the Kannondo the view drops over the rooftops of Otsu to Lake Biwa, and a lookout sits a little higher up the hill.

The Shinra Zenshindo is roughly 700 meters north of the Golden Hall in a straight line, a detour best saved for after the main circuit.

Onjoji Opening Hours and Admission

According to the temple, the grounds are open daily, 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., with the last entry at 4:00 p.m. The treasure house opens at 9:30 a.m.

Admission rose on March 1, 2026, and is now 800 yen for adults, 500 yen for junior high and high school students, and 300 yen for elementary school children, with discounts for groups of 30 or more. Parking for a standard car costs 600 yen.

The two National Treasure guest halls, Kōjōin and Kangakuin, are not open to the general public and can be seen only on a special tour booked in advance; the conditions and a suspension period are given on their own pages. Prices and hours change from time to time, so check the temple's information before you go (checked September 2026).

Getting to Onjoji

The nearest station is Miidera on the Keihan Ishiyama-Sakamoto Line, which the temple puts at 7 minutes' walk away. Its suggested route follows the Lake Biwa Canal and reaches the Great Gate in about 10 minutes; the same page says the ride from JR Kyoto Station to Miidera Station takes around 20 minutes.

Ōtsu-shiyakusho-mae Station, also on the Keihan line, is a 12-minute walk. Keihan buses from JR Ōtsu Station (Tōkaidō Line) and JR Ōtsukyō Station (Kosei Line) stop at "Miidera," right outside. By car, the temple estimates about 10 minutes from the Ōtsu interchange of the Meishin Expressway via the lakeshore road.