Arashiyama– category –

Most visitors to Arashiyama never make it this far north. They turn left at the bamboo grove, loop past Tenryuji, cross the Togetsukyo Bridge, and call it a day. Their loss. Daikakuji sits twenty minutes on foot from the crowds — far eno...

Gioji Temple is a small nunnery tucked into the far reaches of Sagano, in the northwest of Arashiyama. It is best known for two things: its connection to the Tale of the Heike, and a garden carpeted almost entirely in moss. Few places in...

I first came to Jojakkoji in the autumn of 2025, on a photographers-only early-entry program — a limited number of visitors allowed onto the grounds before 9 a.m. The photographer next to me told me he'd been waiting years for something ...

On Thursday, June 4, 2026, Kyoto's rainy season officially began. The first Sunday after the announcement called for rain from morning until night. That was the Sunday I booked my visit to Saihō-ji. No reasonable person deliberately choo...

Most temples in Kyoto keep their gates open year-round. Hogonin does not. This sub-temple of Tenryu-ji opens to the public only twice a year — once in spring, once in autumn. The rest of the year, you can walk past its gate without reali...

The Bamboo Grove had been loud. Not loud like a city—loud like a crowd that has all decided, at once, to raise their phones above their heads. Selfie sticks. Shutter clicks. The shuffle of a few hundred people trying to photograph emptin...

The moment you step through the outer gate at Jizō-in, something shifts. Not metaphorically — though that too. The street noise actually stops. Replaced by the rustle of bamboo and, if you're lucky, nothing else at all. I visited on a dr...

I regretted it almost immediately. Two Western travelers were standing at the bottom of the stairs, squinting at the sign. As I walked past them, they turned around and left. I should have said something. Go up. Trust me. Instead, I did ...