ARASHIYAMA & GION
More wooded slopes and spectacular scenery awaits in west Kyoto, where your destination for this morning is the bamboo grove of ARASHIYAMA. From central Kyoto, take the JR Sagano Line to Saga-Arashiyama Station (15 minutes from Kyoto Station), from where you can walk to the start of the grove in about 10 minutes. Pathways lead through thickets of sprouting bamboo, and standing beneath the swaying stalks feels like you’re in a martial-arts movie. Arashiyama can get crowded, though, so the earlier you can get here the better. Once the grove starts getting too busy, you can seek refuge in TENRYU-JI [open daily from 8.30am | gardens ¥500, under-16s ¥300, under-6s free; gardens and buildings ¥800, under-16s ¥600, under-6s free], a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the city’s most important Zen temples. It was founded in 1339 and is today home to lovely (and spacious) Muromachi-period gardens.
From Arashiyama, you can either head back on the JR Sagano Line to Gion or, if you’re not too templed out, catch a taxi from the train station for the 25-minute ride [¥2000] to KINKAKU-JI [open daily until 5pm | ¥400, under-16s ¥300, under-7s free] in northern Kyoto. It's not often you get to see a temple made of gold, but the top two floors of Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, are completely covered in gold leaf. You can't get up close to the temple or go inside (for obvious reasons), but it's still an impressive sight across the pond – and your kids will probably enjoy guessing how much they reckon it’s worth.
Walk down to Kinkakuji-michi bus stop to catch bus #205 to Nishioji Oike Station (about 10 minutes), where you can hop on the Tozai Line to Sanjo Keihan Station (around 12 minutes; 35 minutes in total); from Arashiyama, you can catch a Randen Line train from Randen-Saga Station, near Saga Arashiyama, to Randen-Tenjingawa Station (about 11 minutes), from where it’s a 2-minute walk to Uzumasa-Tenjingawa Station for the Tozai Line to Sanjo Keihan (about 13 minutes; also around 35 minutes in total). A minutes’ walk from Sanjo Keihan Station is the KEMBU SAMURAI THEATER, where traditionally dressed performance artists put on a brilliant one-hour show [Monday to Saturday at 5.15pm | ¥3000, under-12s ¥2000, under-5s free], using Japanese swords and fans to act out samurai poems.
The theatre is on the edge of GION, Kyoto’s famous geisha district and an atmospheric area for an evening stroll. You might spot powder-white geishas shuffling along to their next appointment on Hanami-koji dori or beside the quieter Shirakawa Canal, a pretty waterway lined with weeping willows.
TOP TIP If you’ve any interest in martial arts and samurai culture, then you should really allow time in your itinerary for a KENDO lesson. Held in Kyoto's historic Butokuden, a 100-year-old dojo where the sport began, Experience Kendo’s excellent workshops are run by Tomoyoshi Yamanaka, a direct descendent of one of the last samurai. Lessons cover the beginnings of kendo, the philosophy of bushido (which underpins the sport) and how to strike and block, and end with a series of mini matches. As an unusual, insightful and authentic experience, it is hard to top. Workshops [over-9s only | ¥6980] last for 2 hours and take place on Mondays and Fridays at 2pm and on Wednesdays at 9.30am.
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