Shinshoji temple, also known as Narita-san Shinshoji or just Narita-san is definitely the most popular tourist destination in Narita, Chiba prefecture and most likely the most famous temple in Chiba prefecture. Total number of annual visitors were second in Chiba prefecture, after Tokyo Disneyland.
Narita, which is known abroad as the gateway to Tokyo and many foreign tourists usually head to Tokyo right away. However, Shinshoji is one of the places which you should not miss if you have a chance to explore Narita city.
Shinshoji is a lead temple of Chisan sect of Shingon Buddhist and Honzon; the main object of the worship is Acala, Immovable Wisdom King. The temple was built in 940 and city of Narita was developed as the temple town.
By the way, Narita-san means Mount Narita but Shinshoji is not located on a mountain or a hill. Japanese temples usually have "Sango", a title or mountain name. Narita-san Shinshoji is the main temple for branch temples all around of Japan which also have Narita-san as mountain name.
Shinshoji is 10 minutes walk from both JR Narita and Keisei Narita stations. JR Narita line and Keisei main line are built to carry worshipers and tourists to Shinshoji. Then, it was very common in Japan to built railroads to carry worshipers to major temples and shrines.
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