Kimono Forest

Randen Arashiyama Station is the end of the line for the little Keifuku tram from Shijo-Omiya, and since July 2013 its platforms and the path beside them have been lined with 600 poles of Kyo-yuzen dyed fabric sealed in acrylic. The designer Yasumichi Morita oversaw the project. Each pole is about two metres tall and wrapped in a bright kimono print, so walking the rows is a bit like walking through a rack of rolled cloth.

By day it is pleasant but a little flat, a station decoration you pass on the way to somewhere else. After sunset the LEDs inside each pole come on and it turns into something else: the colours glow, the crowds from the bamboo grove have thinned, and the platform is quiet between trams. The poles are lit from sunset until 21:00. There is no gate and no ticket, so you can walk through at any hour, and it costs nothing.

Halfway along the path through the poles is the Ryu no Atago-ike, a small pond fed by groundwater from Mount Atago that rises from about 50 metres below ground. The story attached to it is that a dragon once came down at Arashiyama, and that dipping your hand in the water brings calm and good fortune. On the platform there is also a foot bath with simple hot-spring water: 250 yen including a towel, open 9:30 to 18:00 (last entry 17:30), with tickets at the station information desk.

Fifteen minutes covers the poles and the pond. The station building has shops and cafes, selling pickles, yatsuhashi, matcha sweets and kimono-print goods, but most close at 18:00, so an evening visit is for the lights rather than the shopping.

The Randen tram costs a flat 250 yen for adults and takes about 24 minutes from Shijo-Omiya. Tenryu-ji's gate is about two minutes' walk from the station, which makes this an easy last stop on an Arashiyama day.