Gion

Gion grew up in front of Yasaka Shrine as a service district for pilgrims, and by the eighteenth century it was the largest of Kyoto's entertainment quarters. Two hanamachi still operate here, Gion Kobu and the smaller Gion Higashi, with the ochaya teahouses where geiko and maiko are engaged for the evening. Those houses do not accept walk-ins. The convention is ichigensan okotowari, no first-time customers without an introduction, and it is not a matter of price.

Hanamikoji, the wooden-fronted street running south from Shijo, is the one on every postcard. Shirakawa, three minutes north, is better: a canal lined with willows, low buildings backing onto the water, and a stone bridge that is the prettiest corner in the city at dusk.

About the geisha spotting. Most kimono-clad women you see in daylight are visitors from a rental shop; real maiko appear around six in the evening, walking quickly to appointments, and they are working. Kyoto put up signs and then introduced a 10,000 yen fine for photography on Gion's private lanes after years of tourists blocking doorways and pulling at sleeves. Take the point rather than the picture.

Yasaka Shrine at the eastern end is free, open all night, and its lantern-lit courtyard is a good place to end an evening. Minamiza, the kabuki theatre by the bridge, has stood on that spot since 1610 and sells single-act tickets. In July the whole city gives itself over to Gion Matsuri, a festival that has run for over a thousand years and whose float procession stops Kyoto entirely.