Kyoto Cherry Blossom Map

The places

Park · Kyoto Station Shosei-en Garden Higashi Hongan-ji's own pond garden, a few blocks east of the temple. It began in 1653 as a retirement villa for the temple's 13th head, the layout is credited to Ishikawa Jozan, and it's been a national Place of Scenic Beauty since 1936. You'll also hear it called Kikoku-tei, after the trifoliate orange hedges planted round it.

Temple · Kyoto Station To-ji When Heian-kyo became the capital in 794, the only temples allowed in it were To-ji and its twin, Sai-ji, built either side of the main gate, Rashomon. Sai-ji and the gate are long gone, and To-ji is all that still stands of Heian-kyo. In 823 Emperor Saga handed it to Kukai, and his Kodo hall holds a three-dimensional mandala of statues. The pagoda, about 55 m tall, is the fifth on the spot, rebuilt in 1644.

Neighbourhood · Gion Gion Shirakawa North of Shijo-dori, the Shirakawa canal runs through Gion Shinbashi, where neat rows of machiya, stone paving and trees line the water. Kyoto has protected it as a district of traditional buildings since 1976. In spring the cherry trees along the canal are lit up for an evening illumination.

Park · Gion Maruyama Park Maruyama Park opened in 1886, which makes it Kyoto's oldest park, and it's a designated Place of Scenic Beauty covering 86,000 square metres at the foot of the eastern hills behind Yasaka Shrine. The centrepiece is an old weeping cherry that's lit up at night when it blooms. You'll also find stroll gardens, rest houses and Japanese restaurants inside.

Temple · Higashiyama Kiyomizu-dera Kiyomizu-dera was founded in 778 on Mount Otowa, and its main hall, rebuilt in 1633, juts out over the slope on a wooden stage about 13 metres high. Eighteen zelkova pillars hold it up, and the joints don't use a single nail. The grounds have about 1,500 cherry trees and 1,000 maples, and they've been part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage site since 1994.

Viewpoint · Higashiyama Shogunzuka Seiryuden Shogunzuka is the mound on the Higashiyama ridge where Emperor Kanmu is said to have buried a clay general in armour to guard his new capital in 794. Beside it, Shoren-in's Seiryuden has a wooden stage of 1,046 square metres, 4.6 times the size of Kiyomizu-dera's, looking over the whole city, and from the west viewpoint you can see as far as the towers of Osaka. The National Treasure Ao Fudo painting is kept in its inner hall, and you pray before a detailed copy.

Shrine · Okazaki Heian Shrine Heian Shrine went up in 1895 for the 1,100th anniversary of Kyoto becoming the capital, and its vermilion halls copy the Heian palace's state halls at about five-eighths scale. Behind them is a 33,000 m² stroll garden by the seventh Ogawa Jihei, with weeping cherries in spring and irises in early summer.

Landmark · Okazaki Keage Incline The Keage Incline is a 582 m inclined railway that carried canal boats up and down a 36 m drop on wheeled carriages, so cargo never had to be unloaded. It was the longest in the world when it was built. The rails are still there, and you can walk the whole slope between rows of cherry trees.

Park · Okazaki Okazaki Canal The Okazaki stretch of the Lake Biwa Canal runs through Okazaki Park and under the giant Heian Shrine torii, with cherry trees along its banks. In cherry season, Jikkokubune boats run 25-minute, roughly 3 km round trips from the Nanzen-ji boat basin, with a guide explaining the canal's history.

Neighbourhood · Ginkakuji Philosopher's Path A stone path that follows a branch of the Lake Biwa Canal for about 1.8 km, from near Nyakuoji Bridge in the south to Ginkaku-ji in the north. It's named after Kitaro Nishida, the Kyoto University philosopher who's said to have walked here deep in thought. In 1922 the painter Hashimoto Kansetsu gave 360 cherry trees for the banks, which is why they're known as Kansetsu's cherry trees.

Temple · Arashiyama Daikaku-ji Emperor Saga built a detached palace here in the early 800s, and it became a temple in 876, headed by emperors and imperial princes until the start of the Meiji era. Beside the halls lies Osawa Pond, which the temple calls the oldest surviving garden pond in Japan. It's also the home of the Saga Goryu school of ikebana, which traces itself to Emperor Saga arranging wild chrysanthemums picked on the pond's island.

Viewpoint · Arashiyama Kameyama Park Kameyama is the hillside section of Arashiyama Park, upstream from Togetsukyo on the north bank, a slope of red pines, cherries and maples with wild azaleas underneath. Paths wind up through it to rest spots and a viewing deck.

Temple · Arashiyama Nison-in Nison-in is named for its two main images, a Shaka who sends souls off and an Amida who welcomes them, a gilded pair carved in the mid-Kamakura period. Past the gate, the Momiji no Baba approach runs about 100 m between alternating maples and cherries. The temple dates to the 830s or 840s and sits at the foot of Mount Ogura.

Park · Arashiyama Okochi Sanso Okochi Denjiro, a period-film star of the early Showa years, fell for the view from Mount Ogura and spent 30 years building this hillside garden at the far end of the bamboo path. Its paths wind through cherries and maples to views of the Hozu River, Mount Hiei and the city. Four of its structures, the Daijokaku house among them, are registered cultural properties.

Landmark · Arashiyama Sagano Romantic Train This slow, old-style train covers about 7 km of the Hozu River gorge in 25 minutes, from Torokko Saga next to JR Saga-Arashiyama Station to Torokko Kameoka. It runs on track left over when the JR line was double-tracked, and it's been carrying sightseers since 1991. Car 5, the Rich, has no window glass, so you get the wind and the river noise.

Landmark · Arashiyama Togetsukyo Bridge The 155 m bridge over the Oi River, with wooded hills rising right behind it, is the picture most people carry of Arashiyama. A monk named Dosho first bridged the river near here in the 830s or 840s, and the bridge you walk across today was finished in 1934. Its name, the moon-crossing bridge, comes from the retired Emperor Kameyama, who watched the moon move over it.

Landmark · Nijo Nijo Castle Tokugawa Ieyasu built Nijo Castle in 1603 to guard the Imperial Palace and to lodge the shogun on his visits to Kyoto. Its Ninomaru Palace, six buildings lined with Kano school paintings, is the only palace complex still standing inside a Japanese castle. In 1867 the 15th shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, announced the return of power to the emperor in its great hall.

Park · Imperial Palace Kyoto Gyoen Kyoto Gyoen is the park around the Imperial Palace, 1.3 km long and 700 m wide. More than 140 princely and noble houses stood here in the Edo period, and what's left is lawns, woods more than a century old and the remains of a few old gardens, among about 100,000 trees. It never closes and it's free.

Landmark · Imperial Palace Kyoto Prefectural Old Main Building Finished in 1904, this brick Renaissance-style building was the prefecture's headquarters until 1971 and still has working offices, which makes it the oldest government building in Japan in use in its original form. You can walk into the main hall, the old governor's office, the old dining room and the old assembly chamber, and it's free.

Shrine · Demachiyanagi Kamigamo Shrine Kamigamo Shrine is one of Kyoto's oldest, on 76 hectares south of Mt Koyama, where its god is said to have come down to earth. In front of the Hosodono hall stand two cones of white sand, the tatesuna, that stand for the mountain, with pine needles stuck in the top of each. The two main halls are National Treasures and 41 other buildings are Important Cultural Properties.

Park · Demachiyanagi Kyoto Botanical Gardens Opened in 1924, this is Japan's oldest public botanical garden, 24 hectares with about 10,000 kinds of plants, 7,000 of them garden varieties. The glass conservatory, one of the largest in the country, holds about 4,500. About 500 cherry trees flower in spring, and in autumn the maples, sweetgums and ginkgos turn.

Temple · Fushimi Choken-ji Choken-ji, known locally as the Benten of Shima, is the only temple in Kyoto whose main image is Benzaiten. It was founded in 1699, when the Fushimi magistrate developed the Chushojima district, and you'll spot it by its red walls and Ryugu-style gate.

Shrine · Kitano Hirano Shrine Hirano Shrine grows about 400 cherry trees of some 60 varieties, many of which started here, so something's in flower for about six weeks from mid-March. The shrine came here from Nara with the capital in 794, and its paired main halls of 1625 and 1632 are an Important Cultural Property.

Temple · Kinkakuji Ninna-ji Emperor Uda finished Ninna-ji in 888, and imperial princes served as its head priests until 1867. The Kondo main hall is the oldest surviving Shishinden, the ceremonial hall of the Imperial Palace, moved here between 1624 and 1643 and now a National Treasure. The five-storey pagoda went up in 1644, and in early to mid April the low, late-blooming Omuro cherries flower inside the middle gate.

Temple · Daigo Daigo-ji Daigo-ji climbs from the foot of Mount Daigo to its summit, and its five-storey pagoda, finished in 951, is the oldest wooden building in Kyoto Prefecture. Toyotomi Hideyoshi threw his famous cherry blossom party here in 1598, planting 700 trees for it, and he designed the Sanbo-in garden. Kamidaigo, the original temple on the summit, is about an hour's steep climb from the trailhead.

Cherry blossom light-ups and festivals

• 14 Mar to 12 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Cherry Blossom Light-up at To-ji To-ji The five-storey pagoda, Japan's tallest wooden tower, is lit with the Fuji-zakura weeping cherry beside it, and the Kondo and Kodo halls open at night. It's a 15-minute walk from Kyoto Station. Official site Hotels nearby
• 19 Mar to 19 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Nijo Castle Cherry Blossom Festival Nijo Castle About 300 cherry trees of 50 kinds flower in turn through the festival. By day there's a stamp rally and a fair of Kyoto products, and the evening light-up runs on its own ticket. Official site Hotels nearby
• 20 Mar to 15 Apr Okazaki Sakura Kairo Jikkokubune cherry blossom boats Nanzenji Funatamari boarding point Boat rides along the Okazaki canal under the cherry trees from Nanzenji Funatamari, with a departure every 15 minutes from 9:30 to 16:30. Extra boats may run. Official site Hotels nearby
• 26 Mar to 4 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Gion Shirakawa Cherry Blossom Light-up Gion Shinbashi and Shirakawa Minami-dori Cherry blossoms are lit in the evening along the Shirakawa near Tatsumi Bridge, their petals reflected on the water. Official site Hotels nearby
• 27 Mar to 7 Apr Cherry Blossom Tea Gathering at Heian Jingu Heian Jingu Shinen Garden About 300 cherry trees in the Shinen garden, including the weeping Benishidare. Tea is served from 09:00 to about 15:30. Official site Hotels nearby
• 27 Mar to 11 Apr Cherry Blossom Light-up at Hirano Shrine Hirano Shrine The shrine's cherry grove is lit each night during the blossom season. Official site Hotels nearby
• 27 Mar to 5 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Kiyomizu-dera Spring Night Viewing Kiyomizu-dera The temple stays open to 21:30 while its 1,500 or so cherries are out, and a blue beam of light from the grounds shines out over the city. No booking needed. Official site Hotels nearby
• 27 Mar to 6 May (dates to be confirmed) Omuro Flower Festival at Ninna-ji Ninna-ji Ninna-ji's Omuro cherries, a protected Place of Scenic Beauty, are at their best in early to mid April, with azaleas and then new maple leaves after them. The grounds charge a special entry fee during the festival. Official site Hotels nearby
• 28 Mar to 12 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Cherry Festival at the Old Kyoto Prefectural Office Kyoto Prefectural Government Old Main Building Seven cherries fill the courtyard of the old prefectural office, an Important Cultural Property, among them a grandchild of Maruyama Park's first weeping cherry and the rare Katamori-zakura. It's lit up in the evenings for the first week. Official site Hotels nearby
• 1 to 5 Apr Sakura Night Light-up and Weeping Cherry Concert at Heian Jingu Heian Jingu The red weeping cherries of the east and south gardens are lit from 18:15, with concerts staged from the guest hall at the east garden. Performers change by day. Official site Hotels nearby
• 3 to 4 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Kyoto Sakura Yosakoi Okazaki Park and Nijo Castle area Yosakoi dance teams perform at Okazaki Park, near Nijo Castle and at sites around Kyoto, with a big one-hour group dance. Official site Hotels nearby
• 4 Apr Cherry Viewing Gathering at Bishamondo Bishamondo An old temple in Yamashina holds its cherry blossom viewing gathering. Official site Hotels nearby
• 5 to 12 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Hanakuyo Flower Offering at Kurama-dera Kurama-dera Eight days in mid April when the mountain's unzu-zakura cherries flower, later than in the city, and flowers, tea, music and dance are offered at the main hall. Official site Hotels nearby
• 5 Apr (dates to be confirmed) Hana Matsuri and Cherry Blossom Viewing at Bishamon-do Bishamon-do Dates are the usual pattern: 5 April, 10:00 to 15:00. The Buddha's birthday service is held, with offered performances in the grounds. Official site Hotels nearby
• 7 to 18 Apr Cherry Blossom Festival at Hosen-ji Hosen-ji About 300 cherry trees including Omuro cherries at Hosen-ji in Keihoku, with a temple market selling sansho miso and mugwort mochi. A bus transfer from Shuzan is needed. Official site Hotels nearby
• 9 to 11 Apr Cherry Walk at Kyoto Botanical Garden Kyoto Botanical Garden A guided cherry blossom walk of about an hour from the front of the garden hall, first 30 people. Garden admission applies. Official site Hotels nearby

Every Kyoto event on the calendar

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