Zenkoji & Togakushi - Private Day Tour from Tokyo

Zenkoji is one of the three most important temples in Japan, a 1,400-year-old pilgrimage site that belongs to no single Buddhist sect and has welcomed everyone, of any faith, since the seventh century. Most Tokyo visitors never get there because it is a long train ride and a bus. In a private van it is a comfortable day.

We collect you in Tokyo in the morning and drive north into the mountains. The first stop is Zenkoji itself: the great wooden main hall, the pitch-dark underground passage where you feel for the key to paradise, and the street of old shops and temple lodgings that leads up to it. From there we climb into the forest to Togakushi.

Togakushi is three shrines strung along a mountain, joined by an avenue of 400-year-old cedars that is one of the most photographed paths in Japan. We walk the cedar avenue to the Upper Shrine, then visit the Togakushi Ninja Museum and its trick house (open late April to late November, closed Wednesdays), which children love and adults do not admit to loving. Lunch is Togakushi soba, the buckwheat noodles the village is famous for, at a family restaurant.

On the way back we can stop at Obuse, the small town of chestnut sweets and the Hokusai Museum, if the day allows.

What you pay is what you pay

The price is one fixed amount for your whole group: the private van, fuel, tolls, parking and your driver-guide for the day. There are no per-person supplements and no booking fees. Temple and museum entry and your lunch are paid by each guest on the day.

Good to know

The cedar avenue at Togakushi is a 2 km walk each way with a gentle climb; the Upper Shrine is closed for snow from early January to late April; in those months we walk the cedar avenue as far as Zuishinmon gate and visit the Middle Shrine instead. If the Upper Shrine or the Ninja Museum is closed or unavailable on your date, you can keep the tour with the substitute stop or cancel for a full refund – your choice, guaranteed. Zenkoji’s morning ceremony and the underground passage are both free to watch but the inner sanctuary has a small entry fee.

Flexible day

This is your private tour, so the day is flexible. If you want to skip a stop, stay longer somewhere or add a place nearby, write it in the booking notes or tell your driver-guide on the day and we will adjust the route where time allows.