What other travelers are saying about Shukubo Honkakuin
If you understand what you’re getting yourself into, you’ll enjoy. If you don’t, you’ll likely be confused.
Simple lodgings, good service, and excellent seasonal vegetarian meals. The food is a mix of warm and cold. It’s a ~20 min walk to the cemetery, but nice in that it’s a bit quieter and more peaceful.
Not sure what some other reviews were complaining about in terms of amenities. The bath, toilets and Wi-Fi were good. Not luxurious, but do you really expect that in a temple stay? The rooms also have heat (you just need to turn it on) and seem recently renovated.
The staff were kind, and we were given an explanation of the statues and paintings in the dining hall by a monk. Would totally recommend to friends and family.
A shukubo is a temple lodging where Buddhist monks accommodate visitors. At Honkakuin, you sleep in tatami-matted rooms with futon bedding, participate in morning prayers at 6:00 AM, and eat shojin ryori vegetarian meals for dinner and breakfast. Bathing facilities are communal. The stay follows the temple's daily schedule and provides direct experience of monastic life.
No. Honkakuin accepts guests of all backgrounds. You must attend morning prayers and respect temple customs, but no religious commitment is required. English-speaking staff are available to explain practices and etiquette.
The fee of ¥10,000 to ¥15,000 per person includes your room, dinner, breakfast (both vegetarian shojin ryori), morning prayer access, and communal bath use. Lunch is not provided. Additional services like private meditation sessions may cost extra.
Book directly through the temple's website or by phone. Advance reservations are required, particularly during spring and autumn. Book several weeks ahead during peak seasons. Same-day or walk-in reservations are not accepted.
I had a very pleasant stay here. I stayed in Wakasugi room which was enormous, with a sitting area facing the Japanese garden, private bathroom including tub and hot shower, and comfortable beds. It was perfectly warm with the in-room heater you can control. The room also had a kettle with 3L of water. I used the common bath in the evening which was very refreshing. Dinner and breakfast were good. I think the complaints about the food from other reviewers are due to ignorance of Japanese meals. I saw Europeans eating tempura without tsuyu, rice plain with no toppings, cold pickles straight from the plate, etc. If you educate yourself a little bit before coming you will have a much better experience.
I give it 4 stars because there are even nicer temple stays in Koya if you can manage to book them.
Fabulous stay, exactly what I had hoped it would be. If you are reading the other reviews and getting concerned then don't. This is exactly what it should be. Easy to find from the bus stop and the staff were so friendly and eager to chat. Check in was very easy and my room was lovely, very simple but as you would expect. The bathing area was scrupulously clean with nice soap, shampoo and conditioner. The bathing is all communal and the toilets were shared but they were both western and Japanese toilets available. The food is a mix of hot and cold as is traditional for temple food. A lot of tofu, veggies and pickles but all lovely. It's simple food, don't expect Michelin star meals. It's served in the dining room, on the floor on a little raised tray and a cushion to sit on. I'm not sure if it was intentional but they seemed to manage to seat solo travellers speaking the same language together which made for a lovely atmosphere. There is the opportunity to go to prayers in the morning which I would suggest going to at least once.
The WiFi was good and I had no problems with the heating. Just need to turn it on and adjust the heating as required. As a tip make sure all the screens are closed, despite only being a thin sheet of paper they make a big difference over the window to keep the room cosy and warm. I would close them before dinner, pop the heater on during dinner and turn it off over night so I didn't get too hot.
I'm summary: I'd go again in a heartbeat, it's a temple lodge not a 5 star hotel and it's not fair to compare it to one.
I was not sure what it was... For £150 per night, you either experience a total spiritual experience or a 3* hotel, as per rating. This was in between. We spoke to and saw no monks- there were 2 lovely ladies and one long-haired gentleman, and only he understood English. We could hear the prayers in the morning and were invited to join.
Our room was only warm in the evening, in the morning we were shivering. There was no kettle to boil water (we had one thermos with hot water on arrival and exactly 2 tea bags, but the water got cold the next morning). No showers, only by the common onsen open 17-21, so forget hot water in the sinks otherwise.
We booked the dinner for 8pm via the website to be served in the room. Thank goodness we arrived at 5:30pm as the dinner was served only at 6pm in the common dining room with all other people eating in total silence opposite to each other, as noone welcomed us to say how to behave or what the food was; and I could not check in advance as none picked up the phone (I have allergies). The food was very bland and not very warm (as reported by others).
If this was a cheap stay, I would give more stars, but even cheap hostels around the world offer hot water to drink or wash your bits (especially if you are a woman). In general, you have a feeling that is difficult for some places to keep up with the growing number of tourists in Japan, especially for food, opening times, and transport.
I slept very well at this inn due to the calmness and quietness of the room. Since it's centrally located, it's near the tourist site kongobuji and near everything so you don't need a bus to hit the major spots. The vegetarian dinner had large portions and was also very filling. A small bathing onsen is available from 5 to 9. Owners are very cordial to foreigners. Overall a very good budget shukubo temple stay experience
