Kitano Tenmangu
Shrine of Learning Famous for Plum Blossoms and Flea Markets
A major shrine dedicated to the deity of learning and scholarship, celebrated for its 2,000 plum ...
Shugakuin Imperial Villa
An Imperial Garden Masterpiece with Sweeping Mountain Views
Built in the 1650s by retired Emperor Go-Mizunoo. Three terraced gardens using the Higashiyama mo...
Kodai-ji
Nene's Temple for Hideyoshi, With Gold Lacquer and Lit Autumn Nights
The Zen temple Toyotomi Hideyoshi's widow Nene founded in 1606 to pray for him, with her tomb und...
Nintendo Museum
Nintendo's Old Hanafuda Card Factory, Open Only to Lottery Winners
Nintendo's museum in its former Uji Ogura card factory, open since October 2024. Tickets come onl...
Nishi Hongan-ji
A Free Head Temple 15 Minutes from Kyoto Station, Open from 5:30
Head temple of the Hongwanji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, on this site since 1591. Entry is f...
Toei Kyoto Studio Park
Working Film Set and Samurai-Drama Theme Park in Uzumasa
A theme park and active film studio in Uzumasa where you walk an Edo-period townscape used for re...
Adashino Nenbutsu-ji
Eight Thousand Nameless Stones at the End of the Sagano Road
Around 8,000 stone buddhas and pagodas gathered from Adashino, a burial ground since the Heian pe...
Kyozuan Arashiyama
Tofu soft serve the shop says won't fall out upside-down
A small takeaway tofu-sweets counter at the start of the path to Arashiyama's bamboo grove, about...
Ujigami Shrine
Japan's Oldest Shrine Building, in Kyoto Prefecture's Words, Across the River from Byodo-in
A small, free shrine on the east bank of the Uji River whose main hall Kyoto Prefecture lists as ...
Sanzen-in
Ohara's Moss Garden and Its Small Hidden Jizo
A Tendai monzeki temple in the Ohara valley, an hour north of the city, where moss gardens hide s...
Honno-ji
The Temple Where Nobunaga Died, Rebuilt Ten Years Later Across Town
The Nichiren-school temple linked to Oda Nobunaga's death in 1582, rebuilt on Teramachi-dori in 1...
Michi-no-Eki Kyotamba Ajimu-no-Sato
Expressway roadside station in Kyoto's black-soybean country
A large roadside station in the hills of Kyotamba on the Kyoto Jukan Expressway, in the Tamba dis...
Jingo-ji
Four Hundred Steps Above the Kiyotaki Gorge
A mountain temple of 824 above the Kiyotaki gorge, reached by about 400 stone steps, where visito...
Shokoku-ji
Kinkaku-ji's Head Temple, With a Crying Dragon and Jakuchu Paintings
The head temple of Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji, just north of the Imperial Palace, with Japan's old...
Higashi Hongan-ji
A Free Giant Seven Minutes from Kyoto Station, With a Rope of Hair
Head temple of the Otani branch of Jodo Shinshu, with a Goei-do 76 metres wide that the temple co...