Fodor's Expert Review Shoho-ji Temple

This small temple is rather run-down, but it houses Japan's third-largest Buddha, which you can often view with no other visitors in sight. This imposing incarnation of Shaka Nyorai (Great Buddha) is 45 feet tall and constructed of pasted-together paper sutra (prayers) coated with clay and stucco and then lacquered and gilded; it took 38 years to complete. From Gifu Park, walk two blocks south.