Self-guided Sightseeing Tour #14 in Kyoto, Japan

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Tour Facts

Number of sights 30 sights
Distance 14.6 km
Ascend 553 m
Descend 423 m

Experience Kyoto in Japan in a whole new way with our self-guided sightseeing tour. This site not only offers you practical information and insider tips, but also a rich variety of activities and sights you shouldn't miss. Whether you love art and culture, want to explore historical sites or simply want to experience the vibrant atmosphere of a lively city - you'll find everything you need for your personal adventure here.

Activities in KyotoIndividual Sights in Kyoto

Sight 1: 角屋もてなしの文化美術館

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Sumiya is a restaurant (restaurant and banquet facility) that used to operate in Shimabara Hanagai (now Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City) in Kyoto. The building has been designated as an important cultural property of Japan, and has been open to the public since 1998 as the "Kakuya Hospitality Culture Museum".

Wikipedia: 角屋 (JA)

991 meters / 12 minutes

Sight 2: 長円寺

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Choenji Temple is a temple of the Pure Land sect located in Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto. The name of the mountain is Mt. Enmei. The main Buddha is Amitabha. Guanyin Hall (Honzon, Holy Guanyin) is the 24th temple of the 33 Guanyin Sacred Places in Luoyang.

Wikipedia: 長圓寺 (京都市) (JA)

159 meters / 2 minutes

Sight 3: 勝光寺

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Shokoji Temple is a temple of Nichiren Buddhism located in Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. The name of the mountain is Gakuyo Mountain. One of the 21 temples in Nakchu Hoka Temple. Also known as Ginko Temple. The former main temple is Minobusan Kuonji.

Wikipedia: 勝光寺 (京都市) (JA)

1316 meters / 16 minutes

Sight 4: Byodoji

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Byōdō-ji (平等寺) is a Buddhist temple in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was founded in 1003, and it is dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai. The temple is affiliated with the Shingon-shū Chizan-ha. It is also known as Inabadō or Inaba Yakushi (因幡堂、因幡薬師).

Wikipedia: Byōdō-ji (EN)

391 meters / 5 minutes

Sight 5: Bukkoji Temple

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Bukkō-ji , also known as the "Temple of the Buddha's Light", was originally named Kōshō-ji, a Jōdo Shinshū temple in the Yamashina ward of Kyoto, which later moved to the heart of Kyoto. The temple was founded and officially opened by a disciple named Ryōgen in 1324, but by the 15th century, Bukkō-ji was the largest and most successful temple, and its network of branch temples extending throughout the provinces of western Japan. As a rival to the Hongan-ji, it received much criticism for its evangelical practices from Kakunyo the head of the Hongan-ji. Around 1481, however, Bukkō-ji became a subordinate temple to the Hongan-ji. Many of the Bukkō-ji's congregation thus became members of the Hongan-ji, thus greatly reducing the stature.

Wikipedia: Bukkō-ji (EN)

333 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 6: 長香寺

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601 meters / 7 minutes

Sight 7: 上徳寺

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Jotokuji Temple is a temple of the Jodo sect located in Honshiogama Town, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto. The name of the mountain is Mt. Shiogama (Mt. Ensozan). The honzon is Amitabha. It is known by its common name Yotsugi Jizo.

Wikipedia: 上徳寺 (JA)

813 meters / 10 minutes

Sight 8: Kyoto Municipal Museum of School History

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Kyoto City School History Museum is a museum located in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. Until 2010 (Heisei 22), it is operated by the Kyoto City Lifelong Learning Promotion Foundation, and from 2011 (Heisei 23), it is operated by the Kyoto City Board of Education. In addition to the permanent exhibition, which is centered on the former program elementary school, special exhibitions are held 4~5 times a year. The first director of the museum was Masaaki Ueda (~2005), and the current director is Atsuyuki Uemura.

Wikipedia: 京都市学校歴史博物館 (JA)

475 meters / 6 minutes

Sight 9: Salvation Army Kyoto Corps

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Salvation Army Kyoto Corps

A Salvation Army corps is a local church organization and physical place of worship in The Salvation Army. Like the Christian term "church" a corps includes both the physical building and the body of members who attend at the building. In keeping with Salvationist convention in using military terminology, corps are sometimes casually known as barracks. Traditionally many corps buildings are alternatively called temples or citadels, such as Openshaw Citadel. The Salvation Army also uses the more traditional term "church" for some local congregations and their buildings.

Wikipedia: Salvation Army corps (EN)

227 meters / 3 minutes

Sight 10: Nishiki Market

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Nishiki Market is a marketplace in downtown Kyoto, located on the east end of Nishikikōji Street, one block north and parallel to Shijō Street and west of Teramachi Street . Rich with history and tradition, the market is renowned as the place to obtain many of Kyoto's famous foods and goods.

Wikipedia: Nishiki Market (EN)

981 meters / 12 minutes

Sight 11: Chūgen-ji

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Chūgenji Temple is a temple of the Pure Land sect located in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto. The name of the mountain is Mt. Jufuku. The honzon is Jizo Bodhisattva. It is also called Meyami Jizo and is believed to have a spiritual experience for eye diseases. Guanyin Hall (Honzon, Thousand Hands Kannon) is the 16th temple of the 33 Guanyin Sacred Places in Luoyang.

Wikipedia: 仲源寺 (JA)

530 meters / 6 minutes

Sight 12: 建仁寺

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Kennin-ji is a historic Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of its associated branch of Rinzai Buddhism. It is considered to be one of the so-called Kyoto Gozan or "five most important Zen temples of Kyoto".

Wikipedia: Kennin-ji (EN), Website

0 meters / 0 minutes

Sight 13: Ryosokuin

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Ryosokuin Tetsuhiro Terada / CC BY 2.0

Ryosokuin is a temple of the Kenninji sect of the Rinzai sect located in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto. The head of the tower of Kenninji Temple. The honzon is Amitabha.

Wikipedia: 両足院 (JA)

318 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 14: 崇徳天皇御廟

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崇徳天皇御廟

Emperor Sutoku was the 75th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

Wikipedia: Emperor Sutoku (EN)

400 meters / 5 minutes

Sight 15: Entokuin

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Entokuin Temple is a temple of the Kenninji sect of the Rinzai sect located in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto. The head of the tower of Kodaiji Temple. The main Buddha is Buddha. It is known that Toyotomi Hideyoshi's main office, the Northern Political Office, was his home base in his later years, and one theory says that it is also the place of its demise. The three-sided Daikokuten in the collection is said to be Hideyoshi's Buddha of Mind.

Wikipedia: 圓徳院 (JA)

548 meters / 7 minutes

Sight 16: 漢検 漢字博物館・図書館 漢字ミュージアム

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The Kanji Museum (漢字ミュージアム, Kanji myūjiamu), officially named Japan Kanji Museum & Library (漢検漢字博物館・図書館, Kanken kanji hakubutsukan toshokan), is a museum located in the Higashiyama Ward of Kyoto, Japan. Open since June 2016, it is entirely dedicated to the Chinese characters that structure part of the written form of the Japanese language.

Wikipedia: Musée des kanji (FR), Facebook, Website

234 meters / 3 minutes

Sight 17: Yasaka Shrine

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Yasaka Shrine , once called Gion Shrine , is a Shinto shrine in the Gion District of Kyoto, Japan. Situated at the east end of Shijō-dōri, the shrine includes several buildings, including gates, a main hall and a stage. The Yasaka shrine is dedicated to Susanoo in the tradition of the Gion faith as its chief kami, with his consort Kushinadahime on the east, and eight offspring deities on the west. The yahashira no mikogami include Yashimajinumi no kami, Itakeru no kami, Ōyatsuhime no kami, Tsumatsuhime no kami, Ōtoshi no kami, Ukanomitama no kami, Ōyatsuhiko no kami, and Suseribime no mikoto.

Wikipedia: Yasaka Shrine (EN)

286 meters / 3 minutes

Sight 18: Maruyama Park

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Maruyama Park is a park in Kyoto, Japan. It is noted as the main center for cherry blossom viewing in Kyoto, and can get extremely crowded at that time of year (April). The park's star attraction is a weeping cherry tree (shidarezakura) which becomes lit up at night. It also becomes busy in the New Year's Eve Festivals.

Wikipedia: Maruyama Park (EN)

308 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 19: Chōraku-ji Temple

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Chorakuji Temple is a temple of the Tokishu sect located in Maruyama-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. The name of the mountain is Huangtai Mountain, Mr./Ms.. The honzon is Jun Hu Kannon. It is located in the southeast of Maruyama Park. In the past, the precincts were vast, including most of Maruyama Park and most of the precincts of the Otani Shrine (Higashi-Otani) of the Shinshu Otani school. Luoyang Thirty-Three Guanyin Sacred Ground No. 7.

Wikipedia: 長楽寺 (京都市) (JA)

283 meters / 3 minutes

Sight 20: Anyo Temple

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Anyoji Temple is a temple of Tokimune located in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto. The name of the mountain is Mt. Cien. The honzon is Amitabha. It is located at the foot of Higashiyama Mountain in the Kyoto Basin, in the northeast corner of Maruyama Park. It is also said to be a Yoshimizu Soan related to the lawful saint Shinran Saint.

Wikipedia: 安養寺 (京都市東山区) (JA)

492 meters / 6 minutes

Sight 21: 一心院

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一心院 DCyokohama / CC BY 3.0

Isshinin is a temple of the Jodo sect in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, and the main temple of the Jodo sect. The name of the mountain is Gunsensan. The honzon is Amitabha. It is surrounded by many of the grounds of Chion-in, but it is a separate temple independent of the temple.

Wikipedia: 一心院 (JA)

320 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 22: Chion-in

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Chion-in

Chion-in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan is the headquarters of the Jōdo-shū founded by Hōnen (1133–1212), who proclaimed that sentient beings are reborn in Amida Buddha's Western Paradise by reciting the nembutsu, Amida Buddha's name.

Wikipedia: Chion-in (EN)

259 meters / 3 minutes

Sight 23: Kan'non bosatsu

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Kan'non bosatsu

Guanyin is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. Guanyin is a common Chinese name for Avalokiteśvara in Chinese Buddhism and has been appropriated by other Eastern religions, including Shinto, Hinduism, Taoism and Chinese folk religion. She was first given the appellation "Goddess of Mercy" or "Mercy Goddess" by Jesuit missionaries in China. Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means "[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World." On the 19th day of the sixth lunar month, Guanyin's attainment of Buddhahood is celebrated.

Wikipedia: Guanyin (EN)

30 meters / 0 minutes

Sight 24: Miyazaki Yuzensai

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Miyazaki Yūzen , also known as Miyazaki Yūzensai or Yūzenzai (友禅斎), was a Japanese fan painter who perfected the yūzen fabric dyeing technique.

Wikipedia: Miyazaki Yūzen (EN)

822 meters / 10 minutes

Sight 25: Awata-jinjya

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Awata-jinjya

Awata Shrine is a shrine located in Awataguchi Kajimachi, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto. The former company name was Fusha.

Wikipedia: 粟田神社 (JA)

320 meters / 4 minutes

Sight 26: 合槌稲荷大明神

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Aizuchi Inari Shrine is an Inari shrine located in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture.

Wikipedia: 合槌稲荷神社 (JA)

921 meters / 11 minutes

Sight 27: Konchi-in Temple

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Konchi-in (金地院) is a Buddhist temple in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto, western Japan.

Wikipedia: Konchi-in (EN)

518 meters / 6 minutes

Sight 28: Nanzen-in Temple

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Nanzen-in Temple PlusMinus / CC BY-SA 3.0

Nanzen-in is a temple of the Nanzenji sect of the Rinzai sect located in Fukuchi-cho, Nanzenji, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. The head of the pagoda of Daihonzan Nanzen-ji Temple. The main statue is a statue of His Holiness Kameyama. It is said to be the birthplace of Nanzenji. In front of the gate, a waterway pavilion built as part of the Lake Biwa Irrigation Project passes.

Wikipedia: 南禅院 (JA), Website

937 meters / 11 minutes

Sight 29: Keage Incline

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The Keage Incline was an inclined railway (incline) that formed a section of the boat transportation route by the Lake Biwa Canal in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto.

Wikipedia: 蹴上インクライン (JA)

764 meters / 9 minutes

Sight 30: Himukai daijingu

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Himukai daijingu KENPEI / CC BY-SA 3.0

Hyuga Daijingu Shrine is a shrine located in Yamashina-ku, Kyoto. It is a small Shikinai company, and the former company name is a village company. It is located on Mt. Shinmei along the Tokaido and Sanjo-dori roads, and is also known as the "Ise of Kyoto".

Wikipedia: 日向大神宮 (JA)

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Disclaimer Please be aware of your surroundings and do not enter private property. We are not liable for any damages that occur during the tours.

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