26 Best Sights in Kyoto, Japan

A UNESCO World Heritage site, Ginkaku-ji (the Temple of the Silver Pavilion) was intended to impress the courtly world with its opulence, but the current structure is actually an exercise in elegance and restraint. Yoshimasa Ashikaga spent years constructing his retirement villa in a conspicuous homage to his grandfather's Golden Pavilion on the west side of town. The shogun wanted the large hall here to be wrapped in silver leaf, but during construction in the 1470s a tumultuous war and government unrest left the clan bereft of funds. Today an elaborate entryway of stone, bamboo, and hedge lead into a modest compound of buildings giving way to extensive gardens. The Silver Pavilion, which stares down at its reflection in the water, sits among the rolling moss-covered hillsides, dark pools, and an enormous dry garden, called the Sea of Sand.

Pilgrims have climbed Higashiyama's stone-inlaid streets to this historic mountainside temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, for centuries. Kiyomizu-dera's tremendous gates and pagodas are marvels to behold. The main hall's huge veranda, jutting out over the forested valley, is one of the city's quintessential images. Immense timbers support the large deck and gracefully angular cypress-shingle roof. Finding the courage to set out on a daring new adventure is often likened to "taking a leap from the veranda of Kiyomizu."

The temple was founded in AD 780, but the buildings you see today date from 1633. Two huge temple guardians man the gateway, and the first sight is of people trying to lift the heavy iron staves and geta clogs, supposedly used by the warrior Benkei. The interior of the temple has been darkened by the ages. Visitors may pass along the area behind the main altar, a metaphoric journey into the soul; in the dark passageway below the temple, quietly follow a chain of thick wooden beads to an ancient tablet carved with the Sanskrit rune for heart. Away from the main hall, the quirky Jishu Shrine is dedicated to Okuni Nushi-no-mikoto, a deity considered to be a powerful matchmaker. Many young people visit the shrine to seek help in finding their life partners. They try to walk between two stones placed 59 feet apart, with their eyes closed. It's said that love will materialize for anyone who can walk in a straight line between the two.

Farther down the path, the Sound of Feathers waterfall funnels down in three perfect streams before a raised platform. You can catch some of its water by using one of the long-handled silver cups; drinking from the falls supposedly helps with health, longevity, and academic success. If you need more to fortify you, enjoy some noodles, shaved iced, hot tea, or cold beer (depending on the season) from one of the old stalls below the trellised balcony.

This 400-foot-long hall preserves 1,001 golden, graceful Buddhist images, one of the world's most magnificent collections of wooden statuary. Enthroned in the hall's center is a seated thousand-armed Kannon (enlightened being) crowned with 10 tiny heads. Tankei, a noted sculptor of the Kamakura period (1192–1333), carved the statue. In the corridor behind it are 30 other images, carved by the members of the same school of sculptors, that include the mythological birdlike beings called Garuda, the holy man Basusenin, and the gods of wind and thunder. The name of the hall refers to the 33 spaces between the 34 pillars that make up its length.

This small temple in the foothills of Higashiyama dates back to the 12th century, when the priest Honen began to preach a novel means of salvation accessible to anyone, the recitation of the name of Amida Buddha (nenbutsu). Two of Honen's disciples, Anraku and Juren, preached this new, at the time heretical, faith in the countryside outside the usual surveillance. Two ladies in the Imperial Court, Matsumushi and Suzumushi, who were also said to be concubines of Emperor Go-Toba (1180–1239), inspired by the teachings, became nuns. Convinced that the monks had seduced the two ladies, the emperor had the monks seized and beheaded. The court ladies then took their own lives in response, and Honen was exiled as a heretic. When he was finally permitted to return to Kyoto in 1212, the now elderly priest had Anraku-ji built to honor his faithful disciples and their two converts. The tombs of all four are on the temple grounds. The shrine is open in spring to showcase its gorgeous azaleas and in autumn for its vivid maples.

The headquarters of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, Chion-in is impressive enough to have been cast in the film The Last Samurai as a stand-in for Edo Castle. Everything here is on a massive scale. The imposing tiered gateway is the largest in the country, and the bell inside the temple grounds, cast in 1633, is the heaviest in Japan, requiring 17 monks to ring it. If you're in Kyoto over New Year's, you can hear it being struck 108 times to release believers from the 108 worldly desires of the old year. The bell may not be struck again until the previous sound has ceased, so it takes more than an hour to ring in the new year. The event is nationally televised.

The extensive temple buildings contain many artworks, along with simpler pleasures such as the exposed uguisu-bari (nightingale floor)—floor planks that "chirp" when trod upon, alerting residents of potential intruders. There are two halls, the greater and lesser, connected via corridors with gardens between.

The temple is adjacent to Maruyama Park. As with most Kyoto temples, Chion-in's history includes a litany of fires and earthquakes. Most of the buildings you see date from the early 1600s.

A procession of stone lanterns lines the steep stairway to this tiny temple founded in the early 9th century by Emperor Kammu with the priest Saicho. In 1185, after the Minamoto clan's defeat of the Taira clan in the Genpei War, the last survivor found refuge here, a circumstance depicted in the epic The Tale of the Heike. Within the temple, note the 11-headed statue of Kannon, evocative of the deity's Indian origins. Another structure houses precious items: ancient scrolls, remnants of a child emperor's clothing, and Buddhist images.

Next to the Nanzen-ji temple complex, Eikan-do (also known as Zenrin-ji) was built after the original temple, dating from 855, was destroyed in the 15th century. Visitors come throughout the year to see the image of Amida Buddha statue, which represents the time when Eikan paused in his prayers and the Buddha turned his head to encourage him to continue. The temple draws the most visitors in autumn, when people come to see the colorful foliage, and in November, when there's an excellent display of painted doors.

A century-old villa (the name means "inn of white sand") with a large stroll garden, this was once the home of the painter Kansetsu Hashimoto (1883–1945). Combining influences from various Japanese periods and drawing inspiration from Chinese imagery, Hashimoto created a unique style of painting. A new museum contains many of Hashimoto's sketches and paintings, as well as works by his Chinese and Japanese contemporaries and an enthralling collection of Greek and Persian pottery. An exquisite stone garden and a teahouse are also open to the public. If you book at least two days in advance, it's possible to experience a complete tea ceremony. Adjacent to the estate is the Noa Noa café, which serves light casual fare from ¥1,500.

The massive vermilion torii gate of Heian Jingu is one of Kyoto's best-known symbols. Built in the 1890s to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of Kyoto's founding, Heian Jingu pays homage to the two emperors who bookend the city's era of national prominence: Kammu, who brought the imperial throne here in 794, and Komei, whose reign ending in 1866 saw the sun set on Kyoto's days as the capital. An assertion of Kyoto's unfaded splendor, Heian Jingu was built as a slightly smaller replica of the Imperial Palace, destroyed in 1227. The architecture reveals China's strong influence on the early Japanese court. The gate, the biggest in Japan, is particularly impressive, as are the three elaborate gardens behind the main shrine, conceived by the master designer Ogawa Jihei, which draw on Kyoto's landscaping origins. The complex makes a wonderful backdrop for several annual events, most famously the brazier-lighted plays of Takigi Noh Drama every June 1 and 2, and the Jidai Costume Festival on October 22.

South of Ginkaku Temple on the Philosopher's Path lie the serene grounds of a once rural temple. Tall spindly bush camellia and slender maple trees form a canopy over the long entry path. Inside the temple's thatched gateway, two long regular mounds of sand are formed into shapes symbolizing the changing seasons. While strolling through the verdant garden, you may notice the tombs of several notables, including novelist Junichiro Tanizaki (1886–1965), economist Hajime Kawakami (1879–1946), and artist Heihachiro Fukuda (1892–1974).

The temple, built in 1680, is on a site chosen in the 13th century by Honen, founder of the populist Jodo sect of Buddhism. This is a training temple. Year-round, monks place 25 flowers before the Amida Buddha statue in the main hall, representing the 25 bodhisattvas who accompany the Buddha to receive the souls of the newly deceased.

The house and workshop of prolific potter Kanjiro Kawai (1890–1966) has been transformed into a museum showcasing his distinctive works. The asymmetrical vases, bowls, and pots on display represent only a fraction of his output of this leading light of the Mingei (folk art) movement of the 1920s. Besides the intriguing workshop and enormous kiln preserved in an inner courtyard, there is residence itself, an old country farmhouse Kaiwai had moved to this location. A little hard to find, this compound is along a small street one block west of Higashi-oji-dori and two blocks south of Gojo-dori.

On a quiet stone-inlaid street in the Eastern Hills district, Kodai-ji is a jewel of a Momoyama-era temple complex. A koi pond figures in the beautifully tended garden, whose teahouses sit elegantly on higher ground. Many of the splendid paintings and friezes inside the temple buildings were relocated from Fushimi Castle, parts of which were used to construct Kodai-ji in the early 1600s, most notably the sinuous covered walkway. A back-lacquered altar filled with tiny images is a masterpiece of that craft.

The temple was a memorial to Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–98), a powerful warrior and political leader, commissioned by his wife Nene (1548–1624). The road in front of the temple is called Nene-no-michi in her honor. On the hills overlooking the main temple, which dates to 1912, are teahouses designed by a pupil of the tea master Sen-no-Rikyu; they are identifiable by their umbrella-shaped bamboo ceilings, thatched roofs, and large circular windows. Evening illumination in April, November, and December is popular among locals and visitors.

The national museum is one of three established in the late 19th century (the others are in Tokyo and Nara) to preserve Japanese antiquities and traditional culture. The original 1897 redbrick French Renaissance–style building presently is not in use. In 2014 an angular limestone, steel, and glass structure designed by Yoshio Taniguchi became the much-praised home of the permanent collection. The architect's other commissions include the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures at the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo Sea Life Park, and the 2004 redesign of New York City's Museum of Modern Art.

Calligraphy, textiles and costumes, lacquerware, metalwork, and sculpture are exhibited on the first floor. Paintings are on the second floor, the strengths being religious and secular Japanese painting, works from China, and medieval ink and Momoyama-Edo painting. Archaeological relics and ceramics fill the third floor. The labels are in English and Japanese, and audio guides are available for a fee.

A gift to the city in 1886, this well-attended park lies just north of the also popular Yasaka Shrine. Crowds flow through, locals stop to people-watch, vendors supply visitors with beverages, and musicians occasionally entertain passersby. Visitation spikes as the new year dawns, when many people gather to hear the gigantic bell of Chion-in rung at midnight; and during cherry-blossom season, when the sky turns pink with those overhead boughs.

Set on the mountainside of Philosopher's Walk is the small shrine of Shiawase no Jizo (Joyful Jizo), with an image of the Buddhist figure holding a child on his left arm and a pilgrim's staff in his right hand. Similar images of the protector of children and the guardian of travelers can be found throughout the city, often clothed by devotees in colored bibs and caps. Jizo is beloved by Kyoto's citizens—fresh bouquets of flowers are dutifully set in the shrines twice a month. The image of Dainichi Nyorai, or the Cosmic Buddha, in the building beside the Jizo shrine, is attended to by mountain priests who announce their presence by blowing a conch shell, one of which rests on a low table, and by wearing deerskin aprons, much like the deerskin draped over another low table.

Ogawa Jihei (1860–1932), a leading landscape architect of the Meiji period, departed from tradition in developing this late-19th-century garden whose rolling expanses of English-style lawn represent the first use of this type of ground cover within a Japanese garden. The blending of Western and Japanese influences can also be detected in some of the architecture and interiors of this estate, once part of Nanzen-ji, that was commissioned by Arimoto Yamagata, twice Japan's prime minister in the late 19th century. The paths of Murin-an, a small but classic Meiji stroll garden, meander along converging streams and past a three-tier waterfall. The garden's southern section is almost always in shadow, creating wonderful contrasts.

Several magnificent temples share this corner of the forested foothills between Heian Jingu and Ginkaku-ji, but with its historic gatehouse the most prominent is Nanzen-ji. A short distance away are Nanzen-in, a subtemple noted for its garden's serene beauty, and Kochi-in, a subtemple, which also has a noteworthy garden.

As happened with Ginkaku-ji, the villa of Nanzen-ji was turned into a temple upon the death of its owner, Emperor Kameyama (1249–1305). By the 14th century this had become the most powerful Zen temple in Japan, which spurred the Tendai monks to destroy it. During the 15th-century Onin Civil War the buildings were again demolished. Some were reconstructed during the 16th century.

Nanzen-ji has again become one of Kyoto's most important Rinzai Zen temple complexes, and monks are still trained here. Entrance is through the enormous 1628 Sanmon (Triple Gate), the classic "gateless" gate of Zen Buddhism that symbolizes entrance into the most sacred part of the temple precincts. After ascending, visitors have a view of the city beyond and the statue of Goemon Ishikawa. In 1594 this Robin Hood–style outlaw tried but failed to kill the daimyo (feudal lord) Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He hid in this gate until his capture, after which he was boiled to death in a cauldron of oil, thus lending his name to the old traditional rounded iron bathtubs once popular in Japan. His story is still enacted in many Kabuki plays.

On your way to see the major subtemples and gardens within the complex, don't overlook Nanzen-ji's other attractions. The Hojo (Abbots' Quarters) is a National Treasure. Inside, screens with impressive 16th-century paintings divide the chambers. Eitoku Kano (1543–90) painted these wall panels of the Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety and Hermits. Outside, Enshu Kobori (1579–1647) is responsible for what's commonly known as the Leaping Tiger Garden, an excellent example of a dry rock-and-sand garden. The large rocks are grouped with clipped azaleas, maples, pines, and moss, all positioned against a plain white well behind the raked gravel expanse. The greenery effectively connects the garden with the lush forested hillside beyond. Visible in the complex's southeastern section is an arched redbrick aqueduct from the 1890s, with the waters of Lake Biwa, in the next prefecture, still flowing along it. The canopy of trees here, which keeps this favorite picture-taking spot cool, stands as a reminder of the city's awakening to new technology that changed residents' lives. Boring through the mountain allowed supplies as well as water to flow more easily into the city.

Nanzen-in 南禅院. This sub temples' east-facing garden has recently been renovated into a contemplative one with a pathway of diamond-shaped stones resting on moss-covered ground. Farther back is a large stroll garden with bridges over the tree-shaded, koi-stocked pond. A small building back here with a curving Chinese-style roof is a memorial to Emperor Kameyama.

Konchi-in 金地院. Recognized by aficionados around the world as one of Japan's finest gardens, Konchi-in was first established in the 15th century. It was moved inside Nanzen-ji's temple complex in 1605 and landscaped by designer Enshu Kobori several decades later. The elaborate black-lacquered gate, reminiscent of Nikko, is a shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun whose clan ruled Japan for centuries. The garden is one of Japan's finest examples of a classic tortoise-and-crane design, representing longevity and wisdom. It's also the most authentic example of Kobori's work. Konchi-in is before Nanzen-ji's main entrance, slightly southwest of the Sanmon Gate.

Architect Fumihiko Maki, whose recent commissions include the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (2014) and 4 World Trade Center in New York City (2013), designed Museum of Modern Art's 1986 steel, glass, and reinforced concrete structure. The museum is known for its collection of modern Japanese paintings, with an emphasis on the artistic movements in the Kansai region. The museum's other important holdings include ceramic treasures by Kanjiro Kawai, Rosanjin Kitaoji, Shoji Hamada, and others.

Dating from 887, this very small shrine is best known for its "guardian rats." Most shrines have pairs of Koma-inu, mythical dogs, but Otoyo is unique in this regard, and very popular during the Year of the Rat. As with the canine twosomes, one rat's mouth is open, and the other's is closed. The main halls enshrine Sukunahikona-no-mikoto, the Japanese god of medicine; Emperor Ojin, Japan's 15th emperor; and Sugawara Michizane (845–903), a Heian-era poet and politician. The grounds are resplendent with several varieties of camellia. Otoyo Jinja is considered the guardian shrine for people who live in the adjacent neighborhoods of Shishigatani, Honenin, and Nanzenji.

With their ancient stone paths and traditional wooden buildings, these two winding streets are the finest extant examples of Old Kyoto—the area is one of four historic preservation districts in the city. Shops along the way sell crafts such as pottery, dolls, and bamboo baskets.

The very fine Sen-oku Hakuko Kan museum exhibits ancient Chinese bronzes collected over three decades by Kichizaemon Sumitomo (1865–1926), the 15th head of the family behind the 400-year-old Sumitomo Corporation. Following the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912, many of China's treasures appeared in foreign markets, enabling Kichizaemon to amass the largest collection outside China. The museum's strongest suits are objects crafted during the Shang and Zhou periods (1600–221 BC), though the holdings include more recent items such as ritual implements, musical instruments, mirrors, bells, and calligraphy. The museum closes in winter and when new exhibitions are being installed, so call or check website before coming.

Large 800-year-old camphor trees flank the entrance path to this Tendai sect temple. Although the present main hall dates from 1895, its interior sliding doors and screens are the work of the 16th-century painter Motonobu Kano, known for combining Chinese ink techniques and Japanese ornamental styles, and more recently, the vivid blue-and-gold lotus paintings of Kimura Hideki, a Kyoto artist, are displayed. The painting of a blue Fudo Myo-o, a Buddhist deity, is a copy of the 900-year-old National Treasure now kept in the Kyoto National Museum. Shoren-in served as a temporary Imperial Palace during the 18th century. Its stroll gardens and delicate interior architecture represent fine examples of staggered tokonoma (alcove) shelves and covered corridors leading to other buildings. In fall and spring the temple is lighted up from 6 to 10 pm.

Stone stairs lead up through the vermilion-and-white gate of Kyoto's central shrine, which plays an essential role in the city's fiscal good fortune. In addition to the good-luck charms people flock here to buy, you will see the names of the city's biggest stores and companies marking the lanterns hanging from the main hall's eaves, each of the corporate sponsors seeking financial favor as well. The shrine, just off Higashi-oji-dori, was built in the 7th century above an underground lake to ensure that the god who resided in the east—the blue water dragon—received the fresh water needed to ensure healthy Earth energy. The original enshrined Shinto deity, Susano-no-mikoto, later came to be associated with the Buddhist spirit Gozu Ten-no, a protector against pestilence and the god of prosperity. Also known as the Gion Shrine, Yasaka hosts the Gion Festival, a monthlong event that takes place in July. The festival started in AD 869 as a religious ritual to rid the city of a terrible plague that originated in Kyoto and swiftly spread all over Japan. The grounds of Yasaka Shrine are filled with revelers during cherry-blossom season, usually in early April.