Houtouji Temple

I loved that the hosts treated you like family, and invited you for excellent meals and temple prayers. You get to experience being a part of their community. The place was extremely cozy, very clean and comfortable. It’s a great value for its affordable price. The location is accessible too, as it’s a short 10-min walk to the train station, yet private enough to not have any disturbances as it’s atop a hill.

Staff was very helpful and friendly. Gave us a ride to and from the station.

The environment is quiet and surrounded by bamboos and a graveyard filled with lushes of greens. Toilet was clean on second floor with a shower room on the first floor. There is also a pick up service from station.

It is located in front of two big 5G towers and a few stations away from Yoshino Station . If you are a vegan or vegetarian, this might not be convenient too though it’s a temple. There is no customization of meals. There were three people in this trip. So if you are traveling with friends with different dietary needs, stay here might be challenging and might incur extra charges on top of ¥3850 for one Japanese dinner set. If one takes egg and the other doesn’t, there is no room for flexibility of meal arrangements. It is either all have to take the same meal or otherwise. Bonito/ seafood sauce was used in the noodles dip. As the main person who booked this trip and have allergy to seafood, it was tough for me. Traditional Shojin Ryori in my experience is vegan and plant-based for sure. We stayed only for a night at Hotouji and decided to waste the second night as it was really not the most ideal accommodation.

It is a buddhist temple indeed, the priest and his family are the hosts. The (modern) temple is a separate building. Beautiful view over the landscape. Access is not easy but the host proposes to come and fetch you at the station. Dinner and breakfast are superb and worth it. There is a language barrier, it's probably more tailored for national tourists during cherry season. A gem.

Unfortunately the mountain top is shared with telecom antennae

A wonderful temple stay with the delightful Terashima family. A calm place on a hill with views across the tree tops to Yoshino. Mrs Terashima is a brilliant cook and runs a cafe of great charm. Beautiful gluten free vegetarian meals were prepared for me. I recommend taking the opportunity to have dinner cooked by her. You may attend morning prayers. This opportunity I recommend taking. Sleeping with fresh air and quiet, after city crowds, I found this a restorative place and I wish I had stayed longer. .

The temple path is very steep. Check with the host and they can help you make other arrival arrangements.

Our stay at the Houtouji temple was one of the highlights of our trip! The loving family made our stay very special. They went out of their way to pick us up from the train station, prepared delicious (vegetarian!) dinner and breakfast, and taught us more about buddhism. We could even attend the afternoon (16:00) and morning (6.00) ceremonies. There is a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and they have several animals (donkey, goats, cat) making it a lovely stay. We want to thank you very much for our stay and would highly recommend to anyone planning to go to Yoshino!

This is a calm and happy place filled with great hospitality and spirituality. You are invited, but not obliged, to attend the buddhist morning prayer in the adjacent temple.

Not a real negative, as the owners are very helpful to provide transportation, but the accommodation is located rather isolated. On foot it is reachable via a 20-minutes steep uphill walk through a bamboo forrest directly from Yamato-Kamiichi-Station (which is not shown by googlemaps!).

Booked two nights at this temple lodging or Shukubo just outside the Sakura season, serenity and shades of green is the reward you get. Lady of the house, Yoshiko and her daughter cooked super delicious meals for me. Chief priest, Hozui and his son conducted morning ceremony that was very soothing and divine. Booked a taxi driver for 5 hours to visit other temples at Yoshino. Took tons of photos and got to know Yoshino a lot better, not just for Sakura. Requested a Goshuin or temple stamp and Hozui san has personally calligraphed it which was beautiful. The toilet was really clean and it is just next door to my room. Bathroom is downstairs with the dressing table beside it. There was another toilet at ground floor too.

None.

Beautifully scenery, very kind family, delicious food!