Kyoto
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Kyoto - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Kinkaku-ji Temple
Kita-kuPossibly the world's most ostentatious retirement cottage, the magnificent gold-sheathed Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) was commissioned by Shogun Yoshimitsu Ashikaga (1358–1409). He erected the villa in 1393 in anticipation of the time when he would retire from active politics to manage the affairs of state through the new shogun, his 10-year-old son. On Yoshimitsu's death his son followed his father's wishes and converted the villa into a temple. The grounds were designed in a stroll-garden style favored by 11th-century aristocrats. The current temple was reconstructed in the 1950s after a monk set fire to the standing structure. The monk's internal conflict is the focus of Yukio Mishima's 1956 famous novel Temple of the Golden Pavilion, published the year after construction had finished. Corresponding to Yoshimitsu's original vision, the top two stories are coated with gold leaf, a spectacular sight when reflected in the pond's still waters. Kinkaku-ji is one of 17 Kyoto-area locations collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
View Tours and Activities1 Kinkaku-ji-cho, Kyoto, Kyoto-fu, 603-8361, Japan075-461-0013Sight Details
Rate Includes: ¥400 -
2. Ryoan-ji Temple
Ukyo-kuThe arrangement of stones amid the raked sand of this temple's rock garden is appropriately solemn for a National Treasure and UNESCO World Heritage site. The simple composition, a photograph in many schoolchildren's textbooks, can be viewed as a contemplative oasis or a riddle to challenge the mind. From any single vantage point, only 14 of the 15 stones can be seen. In the Buddhist tradition the number 15 signifies completion, and the garden's message is interpreted by many to be that completion is not possible in this world. As mystical as the experience is for some visitors, first-timers may find themselves mystified at the garden's fame. This is a setting that changes with every viewing, reflecting the maturity of the onlooker as years pass. The stroll garden beyond the temple building remains much as it was originally designed in the 11th century.
View Tours and Activities13 Goryoshita-cho, Kyoto, Kyoto-fu, 616-8001, Japan075-463–2216Sight Details
Rate Includes: ¥500 -
3. Daitoku-ji Temple
Kita-kuThis major temple complex of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism dates from 1319, but fires during the Onin Civil War destroyed it in 1468. Most buildings now here were erected under the patronage of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the late 16th century. The four subtemples below are open to visitors much of the year, and several others are open during the spring and autumn. Daisen-in is best known for its Muromachi-era garden, attributed to Soko Kogaku (1465–1548). The rock-and-gravel garden depicts the flow of life in the movement of a river, swirling around rocks, over a waterfall, and finally into an ocean of nothingness. Ryogen-in has five small gardens of gravel, stone, and moss. The Ah-Un garden includes a stone with ripples emanating from it, symbolizing the cycle of life, from the "ah" sound said at birth to the "un" said at death, encompassing all in between. Koto-in is famous for its long, maple tree–lined approach and the single stone lantern central to the main moss-carpeted garden. Zuiho-in has Hidden Christian roots. Its rock garden suggests an abstract cross; a statue of Mary is supposedly buried under the stone lantern in an adjacent garden.
53 Murasakino Daitokuji-cho, Kyoto, Kyoto-fu, 603-8231, Japan075-491–0019Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free to grounds; subtemples ¥350–¥500 each -
4. Hirano Shrine
Kita-kuThe gorgeous cherry blossoms at this modest shrine near Kinkaku-ji have been the focus of an annual spring festival since AD 985. The pale-pink petals contrast with vermilion lanterns lining the lanes of the Heian-style complex. The shrine was brought here from Nagaoka, the country's capital after Nara and before Kyoto. The four buildings open for touring date from the 17th century. Installed next to a 400-year-old camphor tree is a huge magnetic boulder from Iwate Prefecture, chosen for the power it is said to contain.
1 Miyamoto-cho, Kyoto, Kyoto-fu, 603-8322, Japan075-461–4450Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
5. Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine
Kamigyo-kuA Shinto shrine of major importance to the city, Kitano Tenman-gu is famous for the hundreds of plum trees on its grounds. Built in AD 947 to honor Sugawara no Michizane, a celebrated scholar and politician, this was the first shrine in Japan where a person was enshrined as a deity. It is also well-known to students, who come to ask the gods' help in passing exams. On the 25th of every month, Tenjin-san, streets around the shrine turn into a huge market. Treasures, old and new, food, bonsai, gadgets, and other items delight throngs of shoppers.
Imakoji-agaru, Onmae-dori, Kyoto, Kyoto-fu, 602-8386, JapanSight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Treasure House ¥800 -
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6. Myoshin-ji Temple
Ukyo-kuA Zen temple complex with 47 subtemples, Myoshin-ji contains many valuable treasures. One of them, a painting of a coiling, writhing dragon by Tan'yu (1602–74), a major artist of the Kano school of painting, graces the ceiling of the main temple's Hatto lecture hall. The dragon, a revered animal in Asia, symbolizes might and success. You can apply at the hall for a 20-minute tour of it and the temple's bathhouse, where after scraping off the grime loosened by the heat and steam, monks rinsed off with buckets of water that flowed down the slanted floors. Japan's oldest bell is in daily use in Myoshin-ji, having tolled out the hour for meditation since 698. Shunko-in, one of the 47 subtemples, has a Hidden Christian bell. Made in Portugal in 1577, the bell was placed in Nanban-ji Church, Kyoto's first Christian church. Established in 1576, the church was the center of Catholic missionary activity until eligious persecution brought about its destruction in 1587.
1 Hanazono Myoshinji-cho, Kyoto, Kyoto-fu, 616-8035, Japan075-461–5226Sight Details
Rate Includes: ¥700 -
7. Ninna-ji Temple
Ukyo-kuImmense images of temple guardians are enclosed on both sides of the massive gate here. With a five-tier pagoda at its center, Ninna-ji has grounds filled with late-blooming cherry trees that attract crowds every May. Emperor Omuro's palace stood on this site in the late 9th century, but the buildings you see today were constructed in the 17th century. The Hondo (Main Hall), moved here from the Imperial Palace, is the home of the Omura School of Ikebana. A miniature version of Shikoku island's 88-temple pilgrimage wends it way up the mountain behind the complex. The walk takes about an hour. Ninna-ji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a 10-minute walk west of Ryoan-ji and a 5-minute walk northwest of Myoshin-ji's north gate.
33 Ouchi Omuro, Kyoto, Kyoto-fu, 616-8092, Japan075-461–1155Sight Details
Rate Includes: ¥500
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