Sanadaan

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

SanadaanSanada YukimuraKudoyamaJison-inKoyasan approach

Photo: 米田賢一 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) · original

Ask where to send a first-time visitor for a temple or shrine in Wakayama, and Sanadaan comes up more than once.

After Sekigahara in 1600, Sanada Masayuki and his son Nobushige — the man popular history calls Yukimura — were exiled to Kudoyama at the foot of Mt. Koya and lived there for fourteen years under guard. In 1614 Nobushige slipped out and went to Osaka Castle, where he fought the campaign that made him the most celebrated loser in Japanese history.

Zenmyoshoin, universally called Sanadaan, stands on the site of their residence. It is a small temple with a treasure museum, a Yosa Buson verse stone in the grounds, and the accumulated devotion of everyone who has ever preferred the losing side. Kudoyama is also the gateway to Koyasan — Jison-in, the temple where Kukai's mother lived because women could not go up the mountain, is a twenty-minute walk away and is a World Heritage site.

Visiting essentials

Best time to visit

Year-round | October–November for the persimmon harvest

Hours

Grounds 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Closed: Confirm locally

Admission

Grounds free | Sanada treasure museum ¥200

Time to allow

45–60 minutes | 2 hours with Jison-in

Finding your way there

Access notes

The Sanada treasure museum charges ¥200. Jison-in, part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage listing, is about a short walk or by car from the station.

What locals know

**¥200 for the treasure museum.** Small, and the only place the Sanada material is gathered. The grounds themselves are free. **Walk to Jison-in.** Twenty minutes, World Heritage, and the temple where Kukai's mother lived because women were barred from Koyasan until 1872. The votive offerings there are unlike anything else in Japan. **It is the start of the Koyasan climb.** The Choishi-michi pilgrim path up the mountain begins at Jison-in and is the historic approach. Kudoyama is where you start it. **Ten minutes from the station.** Nankai Koya Line from Osaka, which makes this an easy stop on the way up to Koyasan rather than a detour. **Buy persimmons in autumn.** Kudoyama is a major kaki-growing district and the season runs from October.

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