Kyoto– category –
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Gion Matsuri Yoiyama: The Nights Kyoto Belongs to the Lanterns
Every guidebook says the highlight of Gion Matsuri is the grand float procession on July 17. The guidebooks are not wrong. But ask people who actually live in Kyoto, and many of us will tell you something different: the real pleasure com... -
Gion Matsuri’s Other Night: Omukae Chochin and Mikoshi Arai on July 10
The moment I climbed the stairs out of Gion-Shijo Station, a wind hit my face like the exhaust of a hair dryer. This particular kind of wind, I had always believed, existed in exactly two places: in front of an actual hair dryer, or besi... -
Adashino Nenbutsuji: Kyoto’s Temple of 8,000 Silent Stones
Temple fatigue is real. Ask anyone on day four of a Kyoto itinerary. The gold of Kinkakuji, the raked gravel of Ryoanji, the wooden stage of Kiyomizu. All beautiful, and after a while the beauty starts sliding off you like rain off a goo... -
Arashiyama Bamboo Grove: A Local’s Guide to Seeing It Empty
Why do people photograph bamboo? I ask myself this every time I come to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. I grew up in Shizuoka, where my parents' land holds more bamboo than anyone knows what to do with. For me, photographing bamboo is rough... -
Eikando Temple, Kyoto: Why I Can’t Quite Recommend the Temple of Maples
I have been to Eikando four times. I don't plan on a fifth. The first visit was in the green season. Rain had just lifted, the stone approach was still dark with water, and overhead the young maple leaves filtered the light until the who... -
Otagi Nenbutsuji: 1,200 Moss-Covered Statues and the Secret Carved on Their Backs
The grand vermilion torii of Mount Atago stands about five minutes on foot below the temple gate, at the top of the Saga Toriimoto preserved street. On this particular morning, for the first time in all my visits, there was not a single ... -
Kyoto’s Hidden Trick-Art Sanctuary in Yamashina
Bishamonten first entered my life as a battle flag. The warlord Uesugi Kenshin flew that single character—毘, for Bishamonten, guardian god of warriors—above his armies. Kenshin was never the most popular samurai to admire. But say you l... -
Ryoanji: Kyoto’s Famous Rock Garden and the Fifteen Stones You Can’t See
I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. The guide's voice simply carried. "Queen Elizabeth once praised the rock garden at Ryoanji," he was telling a cluster of students. "Before that, nobody paid this temple any attention. Then, overnight, it was... -
Ginkakuji Silver Pavilion Kyoto: A Rainy Morning at the Temple That Was Never Silver
Every time I visit Ginkakuji, the same question comes back to me: what is wabi-sabi, actually? I'm Japanese, and I don't have a clean answer. It was an aesthetic once, a way of seeing, but it isn't something I feel in daily life. If a fo... -
Nanzenji Hojo: Matcha, Tigers, and a Quiet Kyoto Garden
A bowl of freshly whisked matcha served with a wagashi sweet on a red lacquer tray inside the Hojo tea room at Nanzenji temple in Kyoto. Seven hundred yen for a bowl of matcha. About five dollars — the same amount I spend on lunch every ...
