Visiting Kyoto? Forget the must-see and instead ‘just be’ in Japan’s popular, but still surprisingly peaceful, former capital.
As in New York, I spent most of my time in Kyoto worried that I wasn’t making the most of my time in Kyoto.
“It’s my favourite city in the
“The temples!” they cried, usually without further elaboration. “Oh my God, the temples.”
We had just three nights in Kyoto and that’s not enough, according to the large amount of research I conducted shortly after irrevocably locking in our Japan itinerary. When you know you’re already short on time, the precious hours you do have become weighted with significance. If there are 10 must-see temples in a city, what happens if you miss eight of them? Who does this word “must” come from anyway? Who will I be disobeying?
Like my hometown of Hamilton, Kyoto is a low-rise city built along a great river. While I am tempted to extend this comparison, it is probably best for Hamilton’s sake to abandon it here and focus on Kyoto, where you will see plenty of picturesque parks, temples and monuments by simply strolling around the city but where a little extra effort will get you to places of international significance: 15 UNESCO world heritage sites (we visited three of them), and many other attractions entirely unique to the city.
You wouldn’t call Kyoto an undiscovered secret. In fact, it’s often cited as an example of overtourism – what happens when a beautiful destination gets more visitors than its infrastructure can handle. Many restaurants have a “Reservations Only” sign on the door, which didn’t work well with the spontaneous/poorly planned decision-making that characterises my international holidays. The famous sites are flooded with people at all times of day. If an activity requires a booking, you’ll often find it was required three weeks ago.
And yet for all of this there is a quiet peacefulness to the city that is evident from the moment you step out of your hotel. After Tokyo, where there really is no place to hide, the alleys and byways of Kyoto can be surprisingly still. On our first afternoon we gravitated toward the famous Nishiki market downtown, which was at heaving capacity on a rainy Sunday, but walking home within a block or two the crowds diminished and we could stroll the ancient streets free of traffic and tourists.
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Advertise with NZME.We wandered through a downtown fringe that looked like a film set – with lanterns, ancient stonewalls and noren curtain dividers hanging in doorways – then down a pathway to the riverside where tourists hiked and locals biked. You’ll often see fountains and rock pools in Japanese gardens and the river Kamo which runs through Kyoto acts like a giant version of one of these water features, its sound and spirit bringing zen to daily life, even when it’s not directly in view. Though the divide isn’t quite this neat, you’ll find more of old Kyoto – including Gion and its geisha district – on the eastern side of the river, and more of Kyoto’s modern world to the west.
In a rare moment of acumen (okay, it was their suggestion), I booked a cycle tour with the hotel early in our stay. This was a remarkably good way to get our bearings quickly – we biked through the grounds of the emperor’s palace then to a nearby urban forest, where we stopped at two charismatic shrines for a closer look.
Until you are there it might be hard for a New Zealander to imagine why you would want to visit so many religious monuments, but each has its own story and character. Even at these two comparatively unknown forest shrines there were unique ways to interact with and appreciate their beauty. At the first, you could select a paper with a hidden fortune, reveal it by submerging it in the stream then, if it wasn’t to your liking, tie and hang it to a wire in order to lessen its effects. At the next, a shrine to beauty, women decorated small wooden faces as a way to attract health, happiness and hotness (paraphrasing).
We enjoyed those e-bikes so much that I ordered them for the next day too, looking at the city’s outer shrines on the map and boldly judging them easily reachable by pedal power. And so it was that we cycled over 30 kilometres that day, watching sometimes enviously as other tourists sped past us in air-conditioned taxis and buses.
Kyoto is a bike-friendly city and I still think it’d be a great way to get ahead of the crowds around the inner suburbs but if you’re visiting, say, the beautiful Golden Pavilion, consider a cab. The bamboo forest was pretty challenging to reach as well; my wife would like me to tell you that there is a train from the city that delivers you right to the front gate.
I loved this bamboo forest. Perhaps you’ve seen it online and, if you have, you probably won’t be prepared for the number of people who’ll be enjoying it with you, making it impossible to get the photo you imagined you would be taking. One upside of our long commute was that by the time we arrived, around 5.30pm, everybody else had left.
I felt twin urges – to breathe deeply of the serene, green environment, and to bark photographic instructions to Victoria so that she could capture my serenity forever. I hope you’ll agree upon viewing my photo that I was right to persevere with the latter (“don’t take this the wrong way but that white T-shirt isn’t very flattering in the humidity” was her analysis as we studied the photos over a hotel room gin that evening, much too late to do anything about it but crop).
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The food is, of course, incredible. Kyoto has historically been famous for the quality of its mountain springs so dishes like udon and tofu where water is an essential ingredient are worth seeking out while you’re there. If the brilliant cuisine of Tokyo can sometimes make you long for a bowl of salad, Kyoto chefs are proud of their verdant local vegetables, and will show off the best of the season at any opportunity.
It’s worth booking at least one elaborate “Kaiseki” meal during your stay – a multi-course showcase of ingredients, techniques and culinary artistry. We ate ours at Mizuki – a luxurious four-kitchen restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton which offers this tasting menu alongside tempura, sushi and teppan dining options and is a lovely way for non-guests to experience a taste of one of the world’s great hotels.
But consider also a short train trip north to Kibune, a town in a mountain forest where a community of restaurants set up lunch tables on platforms over a fast-running river. Kyoto-ites come here in summer to escape from the heat and enjoy an exciting but peaceful restaurant experience unlike any I’ve come across before. Tasting menus start from around $NZD70 though look up Hiroben for a cheap, fun (if much less filling) way to eat – catching noodles with chopsticks as they flow past you in running water.
Other meals were fast and delicious: a tiny ramen shop where you buy a ticket from a vending machine and hand it to the busy chef; a family-run “okinomiyaki” restaurant where the giant savoury noodle pancake covered in sauce is slid onto a hotplate in front of you to cut up and devour. For something in between the high- and low-end dining look up obanzai – a sort of home-style genre of restaurant native to Kyoto.
And if you get a chance to break out of the tourist bubble do take it. A week or two before we flew out, I met a Japanese man who asked if I’d like to meet his friend while I was in Kyoto. Knowing my time on the ground was limited I wavered a little before replying.
But I said yes and it ended up being the best decision I made. The gentleman, Yamamoto-San met me for coffee then told me he’d arranged for his family’s temple – Shinzenkoji – to be opened up just for us.
The June hydrangeas bloomed white and violet in this 800-year-old garden, where fat carp gobbled at insects skimming the surface of a small pond. In an ancient, straw-matted room Yamamoto’s wife conducted a traditional tea ceremony, then we feasted on fresh sesame tofu, Kyoto eggplant and other seasonal delights from bento boxes these strangers had arranged just for us.
We were shown through to a small room where we gathered around a prized statue, carved in the year 1243. The statue, though significant in Buddhist culture, is opened for public viewing on just a few days each year.
The experience felt impossibly sacred. I asked the priest gently if it would be okay for me to take a photo of the statue to capture the moment.
He smiled at me and said the greatest word I could have heard in that moment.
“No.”
Kyoto checklist
- Kyoto restaurants are busy. Book well in advance to avoid disappointment
- Beat the crowds by hiring an e-bike to get around the city
- Visit temples as early or late in the day as possible to avoid the crowds
- Consider a short train ride trip north to Kibune for lunch over a river
- Book in a traditional Kyoto tea ceremony performed by a trained tea master
Jesse travelled to Japan with Air New Zealand. The airline flies non-stop to Tokyo daily with fares starting from $830 economy one way. While in Kyoto he stayed at Ritz-Carlton Kyoto.
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