Along with Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples are the most numerous, famous and important religious buildings in Japan. The Japanese word for a Buddhist temple is tera (寺?), and the same kanji also has the pronunciation ji, so temple names often end with -ji or -dera. There is also another ending, -in (院?, normally used for minor temples). Famous temples as Enryaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, and Kōtoku-in illustrate the naming patterns.
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. There are specialized buildings for certain rites, but these are usually open only to a limited number of participants. Religious mass gatherings in the style of Christian churches do not take place with regularity and are not held inside the temple. If many people are involved in a ceremony, it will assume a festive character and will be held outdoors.
Ueno Park (上野公園, Ueno Kōen?) is a spacious public park in the Ueno district of Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. The park was established in 1873 on lands formerly belonging to the temple of Kan'ei-ji. Amongst the country's first public parks, it was founded following the western example as part of the borrowing and assimilation of international practices that characterizes the early Meiji period. The home of a number of major museums, Ueno Park is also celebrated in spring for its cherry blossoms and hanami. In recent times the park and its attractions have drawn over ten million visitors a year, making it Japan's most popular city park.