From the approach, Kōon-ji looks like a conventional temple. There’s a pleasantly green area with a stand of old trees, including sakura, a tea-house and mossy stones. Here, there’s an interesting statue of Kannon holding a kamikaze pilot dating from WWII.

But as you enter the big plaza in front of the temple, all you can see are concrete and tile buildings. The main temple building is a vast and brutal-looking structure with a tiny slot in the bottom bedecked with multicolored curtains. When you approach, this slot is revealed to be a room containing a Buddhist altar.

Flights of steps leads up both sides of the building to a second floor which houses both the main hall and the Daishi Hall. The main hall features an altar with elaborate lanterns and a great deal of gold pendant decorations, with a large gold statue of Dainichi Nyorai in the middle. Unlike most temples where the congregation sit on the floor, there are cinema-style seats in Kōon-ji. This edifice was built in 1976.

Outside, there’s a bell tower of conventional design, although made of concrete, an interesting pagoda and some aged-looking stone Buddhas. A concrete building houses a statue of Kūkai holding a baby. The Shotoku-den shrine is dedicated to Prince Shōtoku.

Several kilometres up the hill behind the main temple is an Okunoin or inner temple, comprising a concrete building. Behind this a waterfall surrounded by fearsome statues of Fudō Myōō and his associates. The faithful purify themselves by chanting sutras under the icy stream of the Shirotaki Waterfall.