I'm Chris, this is the Traveling Princess, and this is part of our series on some of the off-the-beaten-path attractions on O'ahu.

If you've seen all the big things, you've seen Waikiki, you've seen the blow hole, here's some things you might wanna see.

And it starts with the Byodo-In Temple.

So, this temple is on the other side of the island from Waikiki.

So, it's about a 30-minute drive from Waikiki, but what is this temple?

It is a replica of a 900-year-old temple of the same name, originally in Kyoto, Japan.

The original one was made entirely of wood with no nails.

This one was built in 1968, primarily of concrete.

Now, when you're driving here, put Google Maps in, you're gonna drive through a cemetery⏤that's the right way to get here, that's right back there.

Now to come in here, $5 admission per adult; you cross this really neat red bridge, and then we're gonna get to something really cool that you might've heard in the background already.

And it's the sound of the sacred bell.

This bell, a replica of the original at the Byodo-In in Kyoto.

A replica of one of the three most sacred bells in Japan.

It's believed that if you ring this on your way in, it will clear your mind of negativity and bring you peace and happiness.

That is definitely the sound of peace and happiness.

Now, before heading into the temple itself, up on the hill is the meditation pavilion.

If the sound of that drone is something you wish to meditate to, you can check this out.

It's also known as the emperor's fishing pavilion.

Now, right in the center of the grounds is a really big pond, and it's not any pond, but there's a whole bunch of really big koi fish in there.

If you like fish, check them out.

Even if you don't like fish, check them out, 'cause they are really big.

And these koi fish, they are hungry and they will eat food if you give it to them.

They'll be jumping out of the water for it.

If you wanna buy some food to feed the fish, there's a gift shop right here, just on the other side of the bridge from the temple itself.

If you do want to feed the fish or visit the gift shop, do it before 4:30.

It closes 15 minutes before the rest of the temple does.

Now, I wanna point out that this actually isn't a functioning temple; there's no monks here, there's no monastic group here.

It's just this replica and a place that you can go in to see.

It's been featured on Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI.

And if you want to go in the temple of the staircase, you do have to remove your shoes.

But I do want to point out, we are in Hawaii, and not Japan.

Because the sign right there says, "Aloha, please remove your slippers before entering."

If you haven't picked up that Hawaiian English, "slippers" is Hawaiian English for "sandals".

Now, as you enter into the temple, they ask you to remove your shoes and carry them with you through the temple.

What's in here?

It's a really big, 18-foot tall Buddha statue.

And you probably can't smell it, but a really quite strong smell of incense.

But if you wanna see the Buddha and you don't wanna take off your shoes, you can do that too.

Just walk around the outside and peek in through this door, and you can see the Buddha with your shoes on.

Now, in addition to koi fish, there's also wild peacocks here.

We didn't see any of the peacocks, but we did see a black swan.

There's also a lot of wild cats that live around here.

In addition to being just a touristy temple, it's also a really popular place for weddings.

So, if you're getting married, you could consider this for that event as well.

But if you're coming to Hawaii and you want to see more off-the-beaten-path tourist attractions, well, check out right here for my off-the-beaten-path Hawaii playlist.

Or see more of my Hawaii videos, like cheap eats in Waikiki, the best hotels in Waikiki.

You'll find those in my Hawaii playlist of all Hawaii videos in the description below.

As usual, we won't say goodbye, 'cause we'll see you in one of those videos.