The Kyoto Sixteen Shrines Goshuin Pilgrimage and the Miyako Seven Lucky Gods Pilgrimage: New Year Rounds of Shrines and Temples

Comparing the two pilgrimages

The Sixteen Shrines pilgrimage is an event in which you visit shrines only, within a set period. The Miyako Seven Lucky Gods Pilgrimage takes you to 7 places, shrines and temples together, and has no set period. Neither has a fixed starting point or order, so you can begin with whichever is nearest.

How the Kyoto Sixteen Shrines Goshuin Pilgrimage works

In the Sixteen Shrines pilgrimage, you visit 16 old Kyoto shrines at the start of the year and receive their seals, and visiting all of them is said to bring every kind of blessing for the year. It runs from January 1 to February 15, with seals given every day from 9:00 to 17:00, but until 16:00 at three shrines: Ichihime Shrine, Kyoto Kumano Shrine, and Gokōnomiya. January 1 to 3 are crowded with hatsumōde (first shrine visits of the year).

The special seal book can be received free of charge at any of the 16 shrines during the period, but only while supplies last. The seal fee is 300 yen per shrine. If you receive the seals of all 16 shrines in the special seal book, the 16th shrine stamps a "completion seal" (junpai jōjuin) in addition to its usual seal and gives you a zodiac-animal figurine to commemorate your New Year visits. The completion seal also differs from shrine to shrine, so it changes depending on where you finish. The design of the figurine may change.

From 2026, Imagumano Shrine withdrew and Sugawara-in Tenmangū newly joined. The Sixteen Shrines seal can no longer be received at Imagumano Shrine.

List of the sixteen shrines

The 16 shrines are scattered across Kyoto in every direction, from Kita Ward to Fushimi Ward and Nagaokakyō City. Yasaka Shrine, Kitano Tenmangū, Shimogamo and Kamigamo Shrines, and Fushimi Inari Taisha are not among the sixteen. These shrines are covered in separate entries.

The Miyako Seven Lucky Gods Pilgrimage: the Seven Lucky Gods and their 7 shrines and temples

Belief in the Seven Lucky Gods (Shichifukujin) is said to have originated in Kyoto in the Muromachi period, and the Miyako Seven Lucky Gods Pilgrimage is also sometimes called the oldest Seven Lucky Gods pilgrimage in Japan. Of the seven, Daikokuten, Bishamonten, and Benzaiten are gods from India, and Fukurokuju, Jurōjin, and Hotei are gods from China. It is said that at first Daikoku and Ebisu were worshiped as the "two lucky gods," and that in the Muromachi period five more gods were added, after the model of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, to make the Seven Lucky Gods.

A New Year visit in particular is believed to be especially beneficial: the seven misfortunes vanish at once and the seven fortunes arise at once ("shichinan sokumetsu, shichifuku sokushō"). Each shrine and temple provides a hanging scroll (ojiku), a large talisman (ōgofu, on a shikishi board), and a seal book (gohōinchō), and the goshuin fee has been 500 yen since April 2024 (Reiwa 6). The large talisman itself starts at 2,000 yen. Seals (gohōin) can be received every day from 9:00 to 16:00 (until 16:30 at some shrines and temples).

The festival day on the 7th of every month and the gold seal

The 7th of every month is the festival day (go-ennichi) of the Miyako Seven Lucky Gods, and on this day each shrine and temple gives a gold seal (kin'in). There is no charge for the gold seal. In 2026, in January only, the gold seal was given for the 7 days from Wednesday the 7th to Tuesday the 13th.

There is also a saying that if you sleep on the night of New Year's Day with a picture of the Seven Lucky Gods aboard their treasure ship under your pillow, good luck will come to you.

Where can you go now? / Getting there and tips for visiting with children

The Sixteen Shrines period lasts a month and a half and the order is free, so if you are going as a family it is easier to split the days by area, such as Higashiyama and Sakyō, Fushimi, and Sai-in and Nagaokakyō. The seal book is free, but only those who receive the seals of all 16 shrines in the special seal book qualify for the commemorative gift.

The Miyako Seven Lucky Gods are spread far apart from north to south, from Sekizan Zen-in in Shūgakuin, Sakyō Ward, to Manpuku-ji in Uji City. In January, the Kyoto Sightseeing Bus runs a "Miyako Shichifukujin Meguri" course; in 2026 it departed every day from January 1 to 31 from the Karasuma Exit of JR Kyoto Station. If you go by public transportation, the routes from the stations are roughly as follows.

• Manpuku-ji: 5 minutes on foot from Ōbaku Station on the JR Nara Line and Keihan Uji Line
• Matsugasaki Daikokuten: about 20 minutes on foot from Matsugasaki Station on the Karasuma subway line. Or take bus "Kita 8" from Kitaōji Bus Terminal to "Matsugasaki Daikokuten," then walk about 5 minutes
• Sekizan Zen-in: 20 minutes on foot from Shūgakuin Station on the Eizan Railway
• Nagaoka Tenmangū (Sixteen Shrines): 10 minutes on foot from Hankyu Nagaoka-Tenjin Station
• Gokōnomiya (Sixteen Shrines): the nearest stations are JR Momoyama Station, Kintetsu Momoyama-Goryōmae Station, and Keihan Fushimi-Momoyama Station