Sanadaan

SanadaanSanada YukimuraKudoyamaJison-inKoyasan approach

Wakayama · Kudoyama

34.2902°N, 135.5602°E

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.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Grounds 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Closed: Confirm locally

Entrance Fee

Grounds free | Sanada treasure museum ¥200

Best Season

Year-round | October–November for the persimmon harvest

Visit Duration

45–60 minutes | 2 hours with Jison-in

Getting There

Access Information

1413 Kudoyama, Kudoyama, Ito District. About 10 minutes on foot from Kudoyama Station on the Nankai Koya Line. Grounds open 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM; 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 20 minutes on foot or 8 minutes by car from the station.

Insider Guide

Premium

**¥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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