Shofukuji

• The first Zen temple in Japan (founded in 1195). • Beautiful sanmon gate and serene grounds. • Less flashy, more contemplative — great if you like architecture and quiet spaces. About 10-12 minutes walk from Hakata Station. I personally found this temple speaks to me the most than any other temple.🙏🏻

Quiet, super serene temple with an equally serene temple grounds surrounding it. The entire location exudes calm, and you can walk the entire grounds in a few minutes. No photos are allowed of the interior, but that’s written in Japanese only, so you’ll undoubtedly see a few tourists snapping photos of the grounds. The architecture screams authentic Japan from a much older age, and everything is masterfully maintained.

Visited on October 12, 2025. Free admission. Relatively quiet, with only a few visitors, be it tourists or locals. A section was closed off to visitors. Serves as a quick tourist destination or for a quiet zen moment. Make sure to observe the rope connecting the memorial pillar and the three Buddhas.

The temple and its surroundings were serene and allowed for a quiet reflection. The grounds were well kept and the atmosphere here is just tranquil.

​This temple is a serene sanctuary and a magnificent sight, clearly benefiting from meticulous, consistent care.

Quiet and peaceful place in the middle of the city. Really love this place! You can feel the zen in the air.

Find your peace here! This temple is in the middle of a beautiful park and near Gion subway station. It’s well maintained and simply beautiful. It was impressively empty with a few locals there.

a large and tranquil temple complex and is believed to be the first Zen temple in Japan. a couple of magnificent wooden temples / buildings around, but all are not open to the public. after visiting the busy Tochoji Temple, we enjoyed the moment of quietness and calmness, and we wandered into the well-maintained garden with shady trees.

This temple was one of the stops on our walking tour that we took as part of a City unscripted private tour with a Guide during our cruise port stop This particular area of the grounds included the monuments built to buried Lords and their retainers "The second, third, and eighth lords of the Fukuoka Domain, named Tadayuki, Mitsuyuki, and Harutaka re-spectively, are buried at the Cemetery of the Kuroda Clan. They were devout followers of Shingon Buddhism, and 3 large granite five-ringed towers known as gorinto (each approx. 5.4m to 5.8m tall including the foundation stones) are erected on this site as their gravestones. Also in front of Tadayuki's gravestone stand the graves of 5 retainers who took their own lives after his death. The cemetery has been retained in its original state from when the three lords were interred there, and is a valuable site in preserving the history of the Fukuoka Domain. Other lords of the Fukuoka Domain, such as the founder of the domain Josui (Kanbei) and the first lord Kuroda Nagamasa, have graves on the north side of their family temple, Sofukuji Temple of the Rinzai School (Chiyo 4-chome, Hakata-ku), as well as in Tokyo." Entrance is free but it is expected that everyone be quiet and respectful.