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Eight months ago, I visited Japan for the first time. I fell in love with the country—its culture, its people, and its history. It’s only when I started visiting temples and shrines that I began to understand their deep interconnection with everyday life.

Goshuin Atlas began as a simple idea: help people find temples and shrines in Japan and remember every goshuin they collect. Initially launched in June 2025 as a first trial, I decided to spend the last three months building the experience I had dreamed of.

With v1.0, that idea becomes something more solid: a focused, map-first companion for your trips—built for pilgrims, travelers, and locals who want their visits to mean something.

This isn’t just “more features.” It’s a clearer foundation for everything that comes next.

A Map That Understands Your Journey

The new Explore Map is the heart of Goshuin Atlas v1.0.

Instead of scattered pins, you now see a map shaped around how you actually travel:

All temples and shrines visible at a glance
Filters to surface what matters most—UNESCO sites, mountain temples, accessible spots, places with goshuin
Distance and estimated travel time from where you are to where you want to go

And when you’re out walking, Nearby Temple Alerts gently let you know when you’re close to a temple you saved. You choose how near “near” is.

It’s not just “what’s around me?” It’s “what around me is worth turning toward?”

A Home for Your Temples & Goshuin

Goshuin Atlas now keeps your visits and plans in one calm place.

Saved temples are your personal “someday” list: the places you don’t want to forget.
Visited temples quietly grow into a record of where you’ve been and what you’ve experienced.

Every temple and shrine has a richer detail page:

Story and background to understand the place
What you should know before visiting, including etiquette and what’s not allowed
Opening hours, goshuin desk times, admission, accessibility
Goshuin and goshuincho available at that location

Before you go, you know what to expect. After you go, the visit doesn’t disappear.

More information, more temples, and more goshuin are added daily—and soon, they’ll be added by the community as well. If you don’t find a temple you’re looking for, you’ll be able to easily send a request, and it will be added within 48 hours.

Discover by Region, Not Just by Search

The new Discover experience feels closer to a curated guidebook than a search box.

You can:

Browse temples and shrines by region, prefecture, and city
See at a glance which places are open now or offer free entry
Let the page adapt to your current location or a location you’re planning to visit

Whether you’re planning a weekend in Kyoto or a day trip from Tokyo, Discover gives you a starting point that actually feels grounded in place.

Pilgrimages & Events With Intent

For when you want more than a single stop:

Pilgrimage routes gather well-known temple and shrine paths into one view, so you can follow a route with meaning, not just hop between pins.
Events at temples and shrines appear both on detail pages and in a dedicated view, with dates, times, and links for more information. You can add the ones that matter directly to Apple Calendar.

Trips stop being random. They become tied to seasons, festivals, and rituals.

Built to Be Steady and Ready

Underneath, Goshuin Atlas v1.0 runs on a cleaner structure:

Navigation is simpler and more predictable.
Performance and stability have been tuned for moving around the app quickly, even with many saved and visited temples. A lot of work was put into ensuring that the app is lighter and more performant on whatever Apple device you use.

It’s a quieter kind of improvement, but it’s the one that lets us grow—without making the app feel heavy.

A Companion for Temple Days

At the core of Goshuin Atlas is a belief: A temple or shrine visit is not just a point on a map. It’s a moment in your story—a connection with a culture, a history, a past you will never forget.

Goshuin Atlas v1.0 is here to help you:

Find places worth visiting
Understand them before you arrive
Remember them long after you leave

The new version is available now. Update, open the map, save a few temples that call to you—and let your next journey begin from there.

If you have thoughts or wishes for what Goshuin Atlas should become, we’d love to hear them.

This is only v1.0. So much more to come!

Meet Goshuin Atlas v1.0