length of visit before you got templed out?

Just wondering really, and I'm sure it's different for every people.

But for you, how long does it take you within continuous time of visiting temples until you reach that 'sickness' point? 3 days? 4 days?
more/less?

curious about that as I'll be visiting Kyoto soon and maybe I shouldn't spend too much time sampling tons of temples there :P

I think it depends a lot on the depth of knowledge you have in temples and what regions you visit. The deeper the knowledge, the longer it takes to get templed out. If you have no differentiated knowledge of Japanese Buddhism, the temples probably start to all look the same after about three days of temple visiting.

Also, if you visit temples in just a single city, you are likely to get templed out earlier than if visiting temples in different areas of Japan. Koyasan's temples, for example, are very different from Kyoto's. And Kyoto's temples are rather different from Nara's.

But if you are well informed about Buddhism, different statues, different sects and the religious history of Japan, you are very unlikely to get templed within a week.

Depends on the type of person you are, even 1 or 2 days for the average tourist things start to look the same. If you are deep into the history and cultural aspect thats fine, but I think for the average traveler things start to look the same after a while.

If you would like to increase your knowledge of Buddhism and Shintoism, I would suggest taking a look at this link:

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/buddhism.shtml

If you like architecture it is hard to be "templed out" (what a horrible word) especially if you visit temples with gardens or in the woods (Fushimi Inari near Kyoto).
If you love department stores and can spend hour in a single one you may not like temples and shrines...
You will never know until you try.. .

...if you are racing from temple to temple, doing several in a day etc, it'd get tired pretty quick (I'd give it a day, maybe 2). If you take your time and wander around the grounds and the area of the temples (eg golden/silver/fushimi inari/shoein garden/my fave kiyomizudera), you'll probably never get tired of them. Sure they can be full of tourists, but they are still good. Best way for that (for my family at least) is to take the walks, like the philosopher's path, or from Kiyomizudera through to Gion, and we do that each time we go to Kyoto and have our fave restaurants and shops, allowing probably a half day for each walk.

Hi,
i suppose it depends on individual preference?
For me, i love kyoto....
and re-visited the same temples/shrines twice last year. (in spring & autumn)
But my mum got really bored with seeing too many temples/shrines.. she thinks seeing just Kiyomizudera was enough for her.

I agree with just doing the philosophers' path - higashiyama walk towards kiyomizudera for 1st timers.