We began our first full day in Kyoto with a three-hour guided orientation tour through the city’s historic eastern neighborhoods, exploring the Kamo River, Pontocho, Miyagawachō, traditional machiya lanes, temples, and Gion. During this time, we learned about geisha culture, saw a maiko walking to work, and discovered the three places geishas inhabit – Ochaya (teahouses), Okiya (homes), and Kaburenjō (theaters).
In the afternoon, we traveled across Kyoto to Arashiyama, wandering through the historic Saga-Toriimoto district, Buddhist temples filled with stone figures, moss gardens, and the famous bamboo forest. We finished the day among the towering bamboo, this time illuminated after dark.
A very full day spanning two sides of Kyoto—and an extraordinary variety of architecture, gardens, history, and photographic subjects.
A maiko, apprentice, walking to work (girls become maikos at about age 15 and geishas around ago 20)
Rokudō Chinno-ji
Grieving parents honor their miscarried or stillborn children by placing a bib on a Jizō statue
Kennin-ji Temple — Twin Dragons ceiling, Dharma Hall
Schedule of classes and performances posted outside an Okiya
Otagi Nenbutsu-ji: about 1,200 stone rakan statues!
Ōkōchi Sansō Garden
Bamboo grove at Adashino Nenbutsu-ji
Giō-ji, lush and mossy
Tenryū-ji — Sōgenchi Pond Garden: zen garden with raked gravel at this UNESCO World Heritage Site
Tenryū-ji: from the top of a trail
Togetsukyō Bridge at sunset
Illuminated Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
