Kyoto is the most picturesque and historic city in Japan, which calls the city of temples. It considers Japan’s most important religious city with many ancient temples and shrines. Japanese emperors ruled Japan from Kyoto for eleven centuries, until it relocated to Tokyo in 1869. There are over 1600 temples and shrines, 16 of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Although you may be surprised by this number, yes it is true.! Everywhere in Kyoto, you’ll find an ancient temple, and some of them are hugely famous attractions, while others aren’t so popular among visitors.
Structure of Japanese Temples
These temples are mostly wooden structures, well preserved for thousands of years showing the grandeur of ancient Japanese architecture. They have a majestic entrance gate called Karamon or Sanmon, and several halls including the Founder’s Hall, where statues of Buddha are located. Usually, there is a three to five-storied pagoda and a giant bell tower. Most of the temples have elegantly landscaped large gardens, which are ideal for enjoying the sceneries around these serene temples. Visiting these calm and quiet places full of serendipity is the best experience you can get in Kyoto.
We were blessed to live in this city of the temple while working as postdoctoral researchers at Kyoto University. During our stay in Kyoto, we used to visit a temple every weekend. We enjoyed these ancient and historical temples a lot and captured the best images of them in our lens. Since there are lots of images of temples we visited in Kyoto, we’ll share them with you in several Posts. Here you’ll find the best temples in Kyoto – Part 1 and hope everybody will enjoy it.
1. Kinkakuji (Golden Temple)
Kinkakuji, or “Golden Temple” is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, which considers the most iconic and impressive sight of the city. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu established it in 1397 as his retirement villa. But the original structure was destroyed by the fire in 1950 and it was reconstructed with the majestic golden pavilion. A phoenix perched upon the temple’s peak and it became to its present glory in 1955.
This is a three-story building made from wood. The top two stories of the pavilion are covered with pure gold leaf. Kinkakuji is a world heritage site and its dazzling appearance of gold that glitters with nature gives a wonderful feeling to the visitors.
Mirror Pond
The lake around the temple calls Mirror pond, creating the beautiful reflections of the golden pavilion on the water. This pond enhances the aesthetic value of the Golden Temple a lot.
Kinkakuji is equally breathtaking in any season, with the hues of surrounding foliage is changing with time. Since the sceneries around the temple garden are different from season to season, it is well worth visiting it even a few times a year.
We have visited Golden Temple several times during our stay in Kyoto. We had great pleasure in seeing the stunning image of the golden pavilion on the lake surrounded by landscaped gardens.
Dazzling Golden Temple is one of the finest views we had in Japan! We took as many as snaps can to memorize the wonderful view of this great temple.
We wandered along the paths through the gardens capturing the great views and enjoying the calm and quiet nature around the temple.
The true tranquility and beauty of the golden pavilion gave us a truly memorable trip. Still, the trip to Golen Temple gives us an everlasting golden memory.
2. Ginkakuji (Silver Temple)
Ginkakuji or “Silver Temple” is one of the best Zen Buddhist temples and a world heritage site located closer to Golden Temple. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the grandson of shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu built it in 1490. Ginkakuji was modeled after Kinkakuji and was supposed to finish in a dazzling appearance of Silver. But this step couldn’t achieve and it has never been coated by Silver.
It is a structure with two stories, which the first floor built in a domestic style, and the second floor built in the style of a Buddhist temple.
The structure of Ginkakji is simple and not as impressive as Kinkakuji, but the gardens are extremely lovely. It sits at the edge of a lake surrounded by lush green gardens and its main feature is the sand garden, called the Sea of Silver Sand.
Garden of Ginkakuji
There is a path that takes you into the hillside providing incredible views of the entire Silver temple complex. During autumn, the temple surrounds by colorful leaves, and when it’s spring, the temple is abundant with cherry blossoms.
The garden of Silver Temple landscape with ponds, bridges, little streams, and various plants. The whole garden is filled with lush greenery making it a quiet, serene environment.
We enjoyed the peaceful and beautiful nature around the garden while strolling through the pathway to the top of the hill. It gave a stunning view of the temple, as well as surrounding Kyoto city.
3. Nishi Honganji Temple
Nishi Honganji Temple is a favorite tourist attraction, located just north of the Kyoto station. It can conveniently reach on foot, after immediately arriving in the city. The temple has two parts; Nishi Honganji is Western Temple, while Higashi Honganji is Eastern Temple.
This is one of the great ancient monuments and a world heritage site. It was built in 1591 and the Founder’s Hall in Nishi Honganji is the second largest wooden structure in Japan, after Nara’s Great Buddha Hall.
Many Buddhist artifacts house within the temple complex. Inside of the hall is an open worship space, with golden chandeliers and a beautifully carved ceiling. The main features of Nishi Honganji include the large Karamon Gate and the Daishido Hall.
4. Higashi Honganji Temple
Higashi Honganji locates just a few streets away from Nishi Honganji temple. It built in 1602, 11 years later the construction of Nishi Honganji. The layout of the two temples is much similar, with only a few different features.
The main hall at Higashi Honganji is one of the largest wooden structures in Kyoto. There is a large ornamental garden in Higashi Honganji, ideal for a leisurely stroll. Both Nishi and Higashi Honganji are famous attractions in Kyoto.
Honganji Temple locates quite closer to the Kyoto city center, just within walking distance. We could visit this ancient temple several times, during our stay in Kyoto.
There were flocks of pigeons in this temple and their sight was adorable. We used to feed the pigeons, whenever we visited the temple.
The temple ground spreads in a vast area and we used to walk in the garden enjoying the views.
The main hall of the temple was elegant and it gives an awe-inspiring feeling to the visitors. Since Japanese people were praying inside, we couldn’t take any snaps of the interior.
The spiritual power of this temple gave us a wonderful feeling. Our trip to ancient Honganji Temple still remains a nice memory in our hearts.
5. Kiyomizudera Temple
The 1200-year-old Kiyomizudera considers Kyoto’s most popular tourist attraction. Kiyomizudera is a world heritage site with a particularly long history. Most of the buildings at the temple date back to a thousand years.
The temple was constructed on Mt. Kiyomizu and it is one of the great monuments of ancient Kyoto. It has a sprawling complex integrated into nature, including the beautiful pagoda and several large halls.
The Main Hall
The Main Hall of Kiyomizudera is popular with tourists for a long time. It sits on a cliffside with a protruding wooden balcony that extends over the valley at the height of 12 m. The main temple at Kiyomizudera is a large wooden structure supported by more than 100 tree logs. Ancient technical skills use to join the wood together, not a single nail was used.
Its verandah is one of the temple’s most recognizable structures. This gigantic wooden stage deck is the best place to view lovely cherry blossoms in spring and bright red maple leaves in autumn.
Kiyomizudera is a famous spot viewing red leaves in Kyoto. Without a doubt, it is one of the main epic spots to see autumn colors in the whole of Japan.
Our journey to Kiyomizudera was a delightful trip in every way. There was a shopping street leading up to the temple grounds and it was fun to move along with a lot of tourists, Japanese visitors, and beautiful girls in kimonos.
We met a lot of souvenir shops and food stalls before reaching the base of Kiyomizudera. The day we visited Kiyomizudera had mild showers, but we still enjoyed the splendid views around the temple.
We walked through the temple grounds visiting the Pagoda and Halls along the paths and enchanted by wonderful views.
We watched the Kyoto city and surroundings from the viewing deck and we still have a great memory of this majestic temple and its impressive architecture.
6. Fushimi Inari Shrine
Fushimi Inari Shrine is a highly famous attraction in Kyoto based at the bottom of Mt Inari. It locates directly in front of Fushimi Inari Station and is easily accessible by train. This is one of the best temples in Kyoto, which you must visit during a Kyoto tour.
Fushimi Inari Shrine is a Shinto shrine dating to the 8th century. The massive complex has trails lined by bright red torii gates that go up the mountain to various smaller Shrines. This is a highly striking and attractive temple, as the thousands of red vermilion torii gates give a dazzling appearance.
Thousands of Torii gates
There is a grand entrance to the torii-covered hiking trail, which starts parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii or thousands of torii gates. The sight of the torii gates all lined up around 1 m apart is magnificent, and perhaps one of the most iconic views of Japan.
These torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies. You’ll find the donator’s name and the date of the donation inscribed on each gate.
Fox Statues
There are many fox statues along the path, which regard as messengers and guardian spirits of the Inari Shrines.
We visited Fushimi Inari Shrine during the new year festival day in January. The temple was heavily crowded, but it was enjoyable to move along with a lot of visitors.
The entrance from Senbon Torii was magical like entering another world. We enjoyed hiking through the thousands of bright red torii gates.
The whole pathway to the top of the mountain was torii-covered and it took around 2 hours to reach the summit along the loop. It was a truly mesmerizing experience. The path went through passing the restaurants, viewpoints, and smaller shrines along the way to the top of the hill.
We could get some brilliant images of torii gates without other people in them. The view of the sunset at the top of the hill made an everlasting memory and this was one of the amazing journeys we encountered in Kyoto.
Here we have mentioned the first part of the best temples in Kyoto we visited during our stay in Kyoto. If you are going to visit Japan someday, don’t forget to visit these majestic and astonishing ancient temples. We hope this guide will be important to make you a bucket list of must-visit temples in Kyoto.
We already have a huge collection of marvelous pictures of many other ancient temples we visited. The best temples in Kyoto – part 2 will bring more details and wonderful pictures of them.
