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

Rurikoji (瑠璃光寺), Japan’s national treasure, is a Buddhist temple in Yamaguchi City, best known for its five-storied pagoda. Built in 1442, the Rurikoji’s pagoda is ranked among Japan's three greatest pagodas. The other two pagodas which share this honor are of the Horyuji Temple near Nara and Daigoji Temple in Kyoto.

Kozan Park (香山公園) is the common name for the temple grounds of Rurikoji. Kozan Park also houses the main hall, a temple storehouse, a bell tower and a small but thorough museum.  The museum displays pictures and miniature models of the fifty-plus five-storied pagodas in Japan. Though limited in its English explanations, the museum provides interesting information about the pagodas such as their differences in design.

Kozan Park also houses the burial site of members of the Mori Clan, a powerful clan who ruled this region during the Edo Period (1603-1867). The Ugisubari Stone Pavement leads visitors to the burial grounds.  The pavements produces an echoed sound when one clap one’s hands or stomps ones feet.  The echoed sound resembles the noise made by a Japanese Bush Warbler (uguisu) which is how the pavement received its name.

Also in the park stands Chinryutei, a famous tea house in history.  It was here Saigo Takamori and others pretended to practice the tea ceremony, while in reality the plotted the successful overthrow of the Edo Shogunate. This led to the Meiji Restoration and the end of Japan's feudal age in 1868. Admission into Chinryutei is free and visitors can view its simple tatami mat rooms on the second floor. On the first floor are some displays in Japanese about the key members of the Meiji Revolution.

Temple Grounds (Kozan Park)
Hours: Opened All Year Round
Closed: No closing days
Admission: Free

Pagoda Museum
Hours: 9:00 to 17:00
Closed: Opened All Year Round
Admission: 300 yen

Access Information
Rurikoji stands about 2.5 kilometers north of Yamaguchi Station.
**By Foot:  about 40 minutes from Yamaguchi Station
**By Bicycle: rental bicycles are available outside the station (300 yen for two hours or 700 yen for the whole day).
**By Bus:  From Yamaguchi Station, board the bus bound for Yamaguchi Daigaku (山口大学) or Nakaoguchi (中尾口) and stop at Kenchomae (県庁前) bus stop (6 minutes, 170 yen, 2-3 departures per hour). From the bus stop, a ten minutes to walk to Rurikoji Temple.