Japanese Temples, Pagodas, Buddhist Temples, Japanese Countryside. Along with Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples are the most numerous, famous
and important religious buildings in Japan. As in the case of a Shinto shrine, a Buddhist temple is not primarily a place of worship: its most important buildings are used for the safekeeping of sacred objects, and are not accessible to worshipers. In Japan Buddhist temples exist side to side with Shinto shrines, and both share the basic features of Japanese traditional architecture.