Koyasan Syukubo Kumagaiji

We got to stay here for the night of news years eve and enjoyed a vegetarian dinner. My husband cannot eat any wheat or gluten so the monks made sure he had a special vegetable dish with no soy sauce. The rooms were at first cold but with the heaters warmed up nicely. The hot baths were nice. We enjoyed walking the town and seeing the various shrines and temples and large cemetery too. The huge cypress trees were amazing. And the cemetery was lit at night too. We walked around in the evening and heard the huge bells rung 108 times for the new year. It was snowing and very magical. The town people have out free sake and hot tea to visitors for the New Year’s Eve ceremony. We awoke early and joined the monks for early prayers. We slept on futons (very comfortable) and the bathrooms were very clean.

Good location, great services, has all need. There is no private bathroom, all shared bathrooms, their no chairs all sitting on floor. Could do with a little low chair in room. I had to ask for goma fire as they are not doing them anymore. I think they should have them, lots of people wanted it. I book late, had double price it should be, over price. At normal price it is a good placed to stay and would recommend.

Nice to experience a night in a Buddhist temple and morning ceremonies. Public Bath and toilet are a bit hard to handle in the cold weather at night.

I don’t want to sound cliché but I can not recommend this place highly enough. Please go and please stay here. Every bit of it was wonderful, the dining experience, the garden, the onsens, the waterfall and the staff: exceptionally beautiful and enthusiastically helpful people.

Place needs a major update. It’s extremely dated. The whole point is to experience life with the monks but it’s pretty hard to take if you are used to western amenities. Also, the monks do their best, but several are lacking customer service skills, and they have a lot of rules to follow.

Had a wonderful stay and very interesting meals served by our hosts. The place is sparkling clean and the ambience is very relaxing.

This is a unique experience to live in a Buddhist temple for one day. Across the street you can find the beautiful Koyasan cemetery. Pure magic. The dinner and breakfast served was magnificent. We also enjoyed the spa at night. We are truly grateful for this experience.

This was a very unique experience to be in beautiful mountainous area living in a temple . The food is very different and fun to experiment with different vegetarian options we have never seen before. This is the only temple that does a powerful fire ceremony that was NOT to be missed! Loved this so much! Rooms are Japanese style- futons on the floor, but comfortable and clean. Highly recommend. Don’t miss touring the magical cemetery nearby !!

Authentic, very nice staff, good location near Okunoin cemetary. What we expected, and more.

Very special experience. Exelent food, nice stuff, very cleen

Amazing. They made us feel right at home.

The Staff were so lovely and the property was just as i had expected beautiful Japanese style accomodation. i made great friends....,and i met beautiful person. Thank you so much.

Rooms were clean and pleasant but very cold. The whole monastery was very cold. The decor overall was not as advertised - looked a little run down. Vege dinner was good but needed more hot food. The prayers could have been explained more in English. They provided heaters for the room once requested but other guests did not get any.

Koya sun was really neat. This place was pretty close to the bus line as well as the thousands of grave stones. They had a small public bath but shared bathroom and shared Western shower.. The burning of the sticks the following morning was really neat to see. They had a couple of training priests that spoke English which made it much easier to communicate. The vegetarian food was quite good... did not miss the meat as the variety of food was very filling. I would go back again!

Comfortable, great location and including both dinner and breakfast. Save my time to look for restaurant.

Amazing unforgettable experience. Consider the night cemetery walk!

amazing ,enjoyed all our stay.we joined the morning prayers.The food we were served was very enjoyable.a wonderful experiance thank you

The place was unique as it was in a temple. Our host Ai Ya was excellent.

Wonderful experience to stay in a temple and participate in the morning prayer ceremony excellent vegetarian meal with helpful explanations. Close to to the famous cemetery Which is a must see overall a most memorable experiece

I was always knew this was going to be a true Buddhist experience, but was pleasantly surprised by the comfort and added amenities offered by Kumagai-Ji. We went for the traditional room, with tatami mats and sliding paper doors, and were blown away by the size of the room (actually two rooms side by side that we both had) and the beauty of the place and location to the zen garden. There was a table for which you kneel at, but had an under heater for your knees! The room was opposite the garden, and while you are eating dinner, they arrange the bed for you which was like a thick puffy cover, rather than a mattress, but was weirdly comfortable and very warm. The dinner and breakfast were true vegan Buddhist food, and I'm not gonna lie, would definitely take some getting used to. Overall, fantastic though. To experience that kind of food in a place like that, was truly special. We also got to experience the morning ceremony and fire ceremony, which were fantastic and included in the price. Now I haven't mentioned the best part yet, and that was the staff! Our host, a very nice lady that we unfortunately never got the name of, had the best English of anyone we had met in the whole of Japan! She was extremely helpful, showed us around everywhere and had a great sense of humour. The monks that also helped out, although didn't speak much or any English, were always ready to help and very kind. Overall, this is a must stay for koya-san, and can't recommend it enough!