Kyoto walking story temples and shrines photos pictures japan walks

It was my first day in Japan, and I had a couple of days on my own before meeting up with my daughter Catriona in Hokkaido. I had arrived at Osaka’s Kansai airport, and walked to adjoining the railway station, where I had exchange my JR voucher for the 3-week Japan Railpass. Waiting to board the the shinkansen to Kyoto, I had my first sight of the efficient way in which teams of staff went onto these superfast trains at the terminus to tidy them up. The seats turned automatically to face the other way for the return journey. The train brought me in less than an hour to Kyoto bang on time around 11.00 a.m. So my first “walk” in Japan was the warm, humid trudge around the vast, modern Kyoto station laden with a heavy rucksack, gazing up bemused at signs in Japanese, wondering which way to go to find my hotel.

Outside, there were ranks of bus stops, and the street signs were totally unintelligible. I should have gone into the tourist office at the station to get a city bus map, but didn’t. I’d been advised against using Japanese taxis because of the cost, but in the circumstances I reckoned I needed to get my base camp established quickly without heading off in the wrong direction and wandering the streets overloaded with luggage. So I signalled to a taxi driver waiting in a long black car with lace seat covers – a distinctive feature of Japanese cabs. He had no English at all, but recognised the hotel name and drove me there, past the gates of temples, maybe a kilometre from the station. It was the Comfort Hotel on the Gojo-dori, one of the main east-west thoroughfares.

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Selecting a walk

I left my luggage and picked up an excellent city walking map in English from the receptionist. It was around midday. I had the afternoon and evening to see what I could of the city, and had already been advised that the Golden Temple (Kinkaku-ji) and Silver Temple (Ginkaku-ji) were “must see” attractions. However, they were at the far NW and NE corners of the city respectively. Also, as the Japanese names suggest, there is scope for confusion between the two! (see postscript to this walk).

The Lonely Planet guide includes a number of short walks in the Kyoto area, taking in several of the temples and gardens. However I hadn’t really got my bearings sufficiently to work out where these were and whether they were the kind of walks I was looking for – I should really have done my homework better. Nevertheless, I had a map, knew where I was starting from, and had a vague idea I wanted to head for the eastern side of the city and then head north towards Ginkaku-ji. I set off a little after midday, making first for the nearest temple which the taxi had passed on route from the station.

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The Nishi-Honganji Temple

This was the Nishi-Honganji Temple, built in 1591. I approached through a back gate, walked round to a reception building and got an English language leaflet. There was no charge to wander round, and I had my first experience of removing my shoes to walk up the wooden steps and gaze into the wide low interior of the hall where a few people were praying. The larger main hall was encased in a vast shed for restoration. Exiting through the main gate, I crossed the main Horikawa-dori, continued ahead then turned right along narrow streets which led back to the station, about 10 minutes’ walk away.

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Kyoto station

Now I had my first proper look at the vast square structure of the station buildings, extending up many floors to include shops and restaurants. Bus stops were conveniently arranged in front of it. Inside, I went up the long line of escalators which seemed to go on forever, away towards the top of the immense atrium. Workmen were busy keeping the escalator and adjacent steps clean. At the top was a “sky garden” – mostly paved but with a number of small trees, and high glass walls giving views over the city to the north, west and south. The station buildings rose even higher to the east, and I walked round the perimeter walkway where sleek trains could be seen arriving at the station. Through and round and down a flight of steps, passing only a few other people, I emerged at street level.

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Heading east from the station

Those starting the walk from the station can visit the tourist information centre for a map and walks leaflets. Then you can take the 10-minute walk up to the Nishi-Hongani temple first, and walk east to the nearby Higashi-Honganji temple, with the entrance on the north-east side. I missed this out and made instead for its detached Shosei-ji Garden, a little further east. This 17th century garden provided an oasis of tranquillity. Paths went past teahouses and studios, around the edge of a pond, across an ornamental bridge to an island with views of birds that looked like white herons perched in the trees, and back out again. In spring the central area would be lit up by cherry blossom.

I walked round the outer perimeter of the garden, then continued east across a bridge over the Kamo River. There didn’t seem to be much water flowing down it. On the other side I continued ahead up a narrow street with small local shops, and used one of the many vending machines for the first time to buy some iced coffee. At the end of the street I came to the torii in front of the Toyokuni Shrine, but decided I didn’t have time to visit all the shrines and temples, and turned left also passing the Hokoji Temple, then right up a winding street, and left again to reach a main junction of the Higashioji-dori and the Gojo-dori. On the other side an area of narrow old streets stretched to the north and east, towards the hills, with what appeared to be the biggest concentration of temples in Kyoto.

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Up to the Kiyomizudera Temple

I took the narrow Gojozaka street and paused to admire the old wooden buildings. A couple of rickshaw boys were touting for business. The right fork - Chawan-zaka – led uphill past a lot of souvenir shops and eventually reached the Kiyomizudera Temple. This is one of the more popular temples with coach parties, but it wasn’t too busy when I got there. The pagoda at the front of the temple buildings looked just beautiful, and from here there was a marvellous view out down across the city. Unlike the temple I’d visited earlier, this one was very much geared up for visitors, with various Buddhist gifts for sale. People were ringing a bell and throwing coins into a trough. Some were tying pieces of paper with prayers written on them onto a tree – a familiar site at temples. Other prayers were written on strips of wood hanging on a rack.

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Walk to a hidden hilltop

The path followed round the hillside and below to a waterfall. It seemed to go further around the hills. I found a gate beside one of the temple buildings with a path leading uphill, and went through. The path was under reconstruction, but was easy enough to follow, and suddently I was in a tranquil gorge climbing up the hillside through thick woodland. I wasn’t quite sure where this was taking me, except there was a “Mt Kiyomizu” marked on the map pretty close to the temple and only 243m high. Reaching the top of the climb, I reckoned I had to go to the right to reach the hilltop, and I was right. It was further than expected, up and down a slippery path through the forest along a vague ridge, but then I came across a little space among trees with small notices hanging from tree branches indicating this was the 243m summit! It was a bit of an anticlimax – nothing that looked like a hilltop, and no view through the trees.

I retraced my steps heading north, continuing past the top of the path from the temple, and some way further on came to a big concrete memorial. Through the trees I could see the northern part of the city, and a vague path continued in that direction. After a slightly tricky descent the path bent left and reached a fence and locked gate, with various walls and steps beyond. I had to climb over the gate – which suggested that the path I had come down was closed! Then I walked down past more temple buildings. As I hoped, it was the Ryozen Kannon and Kodaiji Temple with its teahouses.

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To Maruyama Park

A more sensible and quicker route from the Kiyomizudera Temple would have been to follow the Kiyomizu-zaka slope back down the hill, then to take steps down onto Sannen-zaka (described in the Lonely Planet Guide). There are plenty more opportunities for souvenir shopping around here, and the streets are most attractive. I could see this from the northern end of this easier route as I walked down from Ryozen Kannon and then turned right, heading north to Maruyama Park.

I only spent a little time appreciating the park, but it would have been a great place to relax for longer. Heading out of the park to the north, I passed the massive gateway for the Chion-in temple, apparently the largest temple gate in Japan. Chion-in has the biggest temple bell to match! I pushed on, turning down the offer of a rickshaw ride, and turned right along a busy road (Sanjo-dori) as far as Keage Station, where I crossed the main road and followed a path past the Konchi-in Temple. There were lots of schoolboys heading in both directions, and I went past the school itself with the sound of an orchestra practising and baseball players limbering up across the road.

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Philosopher's Walk

Finally, after skirting the wooded grounds of the Eikan-do Temple, I reached the start of the Philosophers’ Walk around 5.30. This is a path running alongside a canalised stream, in the shade of trees, winding past residential areas for nearly two km, just over a mile. At the northern end, I crossed a road and turned right up the street leading to Ginkakuji Temple (the Silver Pavilion). However it was 6 pm, and the gates were closed.

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Return to hotel - and a meal

From here I should have found a bus back to the city centre, but had no idea where to go to get one. I ended up walking along Kaguraoka, a street running diagonally south-west through quiet residential areas, close to the grounds of other temples and a shrine, then through a busier area near the University Hospital, until I reached the Keiban-Marutamachi Station on the eastern bank of the Kamo River. Tired and hungry, I worked out how to get a metro down to Keihan-Gojo Station and walked a final 1.5 km / 1 mile back along Gojo-dori to the hotel. After a clean-up in my large twin room, I walked back to a noodle café which I had walked past earlier for a good meal. Despite any common language, I managed to order from the pictures on the menu card.

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Cyclists

On the way to the restaurant I was surprised to see a woman cycling on the pavement, taking her little dog for a walk. There were many other cyclists also using the pavement in preference to the busy road, and nearly everyone (young men included) seemed to be using a pretty standard modern but traditional design of bike. And when it rains, they tend to pull out an umbrella and continue with one hand on the handlebars, along the pavement. But I didn’t see any collisions with pedestrians. On the quieter residential streets there tend not to be any pavements, so both cyclists and pedestrians are on the road!

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POSTSCRIPT

A morning run

The next morning I went for a run directly north from the hotel, along more narrow residential streets that must have been familiar in many Japanese towns and cities before the 2nd World War. This took me to the Sanjo-dori, a covered shopping street running east-west. East of here lie the main shopping streets of the city centre. I ran west to the end of the covered section, then turned right and right again to pass round the moat of the Nijo Castle. This is open to visitors, but running past I couldn’t see more than the outer walls, and went on further to the north-east to the Kyoto Imperial Park, surrounding the Imperial Palace. Again, I couldn’t see any more than the outer walls of the palace, which is only open to the public on a few days in the year. From there, I ran down through the centre, past a shrine and temple, then the City Hall, and through the shopping district. After breakfast I had to pack up to get the train north to Tokyo and on to Hokkaido. For those with more time to spend in Kyoto there would be scope for more walks (or shopping expeditions) around this central area.

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Return to Kyoto: Silver and Golden Temples

I did make a return visit to Kyoto over a fortnight later, the day before leaving Japan. Catriona was making her own way back to the UK, and I was keen to make do the omissions from the first visit. After visiting Himeji Castle in the morning, I went through Osaka and on to Kyoto in the afternoon. With a Japan Rail Pass it was easy and quick. I was heading for the Golden Temple and went out of the train station to catch a bus there. However, it’s easy to mix up Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji, and I ended up on a bus to the Silver Temple, Ginkaku-ji. It was a slightly drizzly afternoon, and the setting was a kind of grey-green colour. I walked past the famous zen garden patterns of raked sand, and on up the track through the woods around the pond, with a number of other visitors. On the other side stood the Silver Pavilion, which is plain timber rather than silver but still left a powerful impression.

I didn’t hang around though, and went back down the lane to where the taxis were parked. As I might never come back to Japan, I shouldn’t worry about the cost of a taxi (it turned out to be under £10), I had to see it. There was a bus connecting the two, but I didn’t know at the time, and wouldn’t have known where to catch it. Anyway, I got to see the Golden Temple as well, and despite the dull weather the golden glow of the building across the pond was genuinely awe-inspiring. The combination of human design and natural features inspired by spiritual feelings created the impression of a perfect harmonious whole. It seemed very appropriate, in a city which is synonymous now with determined action to combat global warming and the excesses of human impact on the environment. Afterwards I did manage to catch a bus back in to the station, but rather wished I’d got another taxi. It was a 45-minute bus ride.

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View of the front of Kyoto station