Moopon

1. Once visitors exit immigration and customs at Kansai Airport, visitors will be on the 1st floor. Follow the signs for “Railways”, taking one of the 4 escalators or 3 elevators to arrive at the 2nd floor.

2. Once on the 2nd floor, follow the signs to one of several walkways and walk across the road to Kansai-airport Station. Visitors need to exit the air terminal building to arrive at the JR Station (two separate buildings connected by a walkway). Two train companies use Kansai-airport Station: JR (blue/green) and Nankai (orange). Only JR can take visitor to the platform Haruka departing from. DO NOT use Nankai.

3. Before entering tickets gate, find JR Ticket Office where visitors can purchase ticket or reserved ticket for JR train.(there is a huge sign in English above their head).JR ticket office staff may or may not speak English, but they can read place names and train types written in the Roman alphabet. 

4. With one’s tickets, go through JR ticket gate and take an escalator to get to Platform 4.

Daishoin Temple (大照院), constructed in 1656, is the Mori Clan family temple. The Mori Clan governed Hagi during the Edo Period (1603-1868). Daishoin Temple belongs to the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism.  Visitors can see a small Zen garden behind the large wooden main hall.

In the woods behind the temple is an impressive burial site of the Mori lords. Half of the lords are buried here, at Daishoin Temple, with the other half buried at Tokoji Temple.  The first lord and odd numbered successors are laid to rest at Daishoin Temple.  Visitors are greeted by the hundreds of stone lanterns (donated) which line the pathway to the graveyard.  Led by the light from the stone lanterns and being surrounded by the woods, the atmosphere at the burial site is both peaceful and spiritual.

NOTE:   There is construction being done to renovate the main hall of Daishoin Temple. Renovation works are expected to continue until 2015. Visitors are still allowed in the temple and can observe the main hall from a makeshift corridor which surrounds the site.
The burial site is not affected by this construction

Access Information:
Daishoin Temple stands south of the city center in a somewhat rural environment.
**By bus:  take either the West Loop or East Loop of the "Maru Bus" and disembark at the Daishoin Iriguchi bus stop. From there, it is a five minute walk to the temple.
**By bicycle, it is a 5-10 minute from Hagi Station.
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00 (last entry until 16:30)
Closed: Opened all year round
Admission: 200 yen

Hagi Town located on the Japan Sea coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a small town with a rich history.  During the Edo Period, Hagi was the capital town for the Mori Clan who presided over Yamaguchi (then known as Choshu). With the castle being located here in Hagi, the castle town flourished.

Whereas other towns and cities have faced destruction and damage since the Edo Period, Hagi Town has been lucky.

Though Hagi Castle no longer exists, the rest of the town, especially certain streets in the downtown area, are very well preserved. Among these streets is the area of the former samurai mansions and merchant quarters.

And among the former merchant quarters is the Kikuya Residence, a well preserved historic residence opened to the public.

The Kikuya family was a samurai turned merchant family.

This family had deep roots in the community and was very well respected.

Their wealth allowed them to build a beautiful house, with attention to fine details.  

For example, the room nearest to the garden has sliding rooms which are able to turn corners.

This provides the occupants of the room unobstructed views of the beautiful garden.

Visitors can also view historic everyday items in this house, including an old public phone box.
 

Hours: 8:30 to 17:30 (entry until 17:15) 
Closed: December 31st 
Admission: 520 yen