Shitenno-ji
Founded in 593 by Prince Shotoku, this Osaka temple is often called the first Buddhist and oldest officially administered temple in Japan. Its buildings have been rebuilt many times, last in 1963, keeping the old straight-line layout of gate, five-storey pagoda and main hall.
- Where
- Osaka, Osaka, Japan
- Grade
- Well known
- Worth
- 10 points collected on site, plus 1 for its grade
- Coordinates
- 34.6539, 135.5164
Get the Shitenno-ji stamp
Open LOQAH when you are at Shitenno-ji. It checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp is yours: confirmed on site in gold and struck with the date. It goes into your Osaka volume with your photos and a note.
Near Shitenno-ji
Tsutenkaku 1.0 km
A 108-metre steel tower rising over the old Shinsekai district of Osaka, with its main observation deck at 91 metres. Up top sits Billiken, a smiling good-luck figure whose feet visitors rub for fortune, and the streets below are full of kushikatsu bars.
Dotonbori 2.1 km
Osaka's great nightlife strip, running along a canal through Namba and once the city's theatre district. Giant illuminated signs, the Glico running man among them, hang over the street, along with mechanical crabs and dragons above stalls selling takoyaki.
Osaka Castle 3.8 km
A castle raised on high stone walls and moats in the centre of Osaka, first built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the 1580s as he unified Japan. The present keep is a 1931 reconstruction that holds a museum, set in a large park known for plum and cherry blossom.
Sumiyoshi Taisha 5.1 km
The head shrine of all the Sumiyoshi shrines across Japan, in the south of Osaka. Its main halls give their name to the Sumiyoshi-zukuri style of shrine building, and a steeply arched red bridge, the Sorihashi, crosses the pond at the entrance.
Umeda Sky Building 6.2 km
Two 40-storey towers in Osaka's Umeda district, joined at the top by a ring-shaped deck and by escalators in glass tubes that cross the open air between them. The open-air Floating Garden Observatory up there looks across the city to Osaka Bay.
Universal Studios Japan 7.7 km
A theme park on Osaka Bay that opened in 2001 as the first Universal Studios outside the United States. Alongside rides drawn from Universal's parks in Florida and Hollywood, it has a Super Nintendo World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 8.0 km
An aquarium by Osaka Bay that was the largest public aquarium in the world when it opened in 1990. Visitors spiral down around a huge central tank representing the Pacific Ocean, home to a whale shark, past smaller tanks for the seas of the Pacific Rim.
Daisen Kofun 10 km
The largest of the Mozu tombs in Sakai, a keyhole-shaped burial mound ringed by moats and attributed to Emperor Nintoku. It is so large that its shape is best grasped from the observation floor of Sakai City Hall nearby; the wooded mound itself is closed to visitors.
More famous places to visit in Osaka
Questions
Where is Shitenno-ji?
Shitenno-ji is in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. The nearest other LOQAH stamps are Tsutenkaku (1.0 km), Dotonbori (2.1 km), Osaka Castle (3.8 km).
How do I get the Shitenno-ji stamp?
Open LOQAH when you are at Shitenno-ji and get its stamp. The app checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp goes into your Osaka volume, confirmed on site, with the date.
I have been to Shitenno-ji before. Can I still have the stamp?
Yes. Add it from Earlier trips in your Osaka volume, with the date if you know it, or import your Google Timeline and LOQAH matches the places you were.
Collect your first stamp.
LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.