Gion
The tea house quarter, timber lanes and lanterns, where geiko still pass in the late afternoon.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 2 hrs 30 min
Best time
Between 5 and 7pm
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Gion grew up in the Middle Ages around Yasaka shrine, to house and feed pilgrims. It became the quarter of the tea houses, the ochaya, where geiko and their apprentice maiko are engaged for an evening — an artist's profession, not what it is often taken for.
Hanamikoji, to the south, keeps the most intact wooden frontages; the Shirakawa lane to the north follows a willow-lined canal and is better late in the day. The private streets are closed to photography, with the fines posted.
Getting there
Keihan line, Gion-Shijo station, or bus 206 to Gion. All on foot from Yasaka shrine.
Rules on site
Photography has been banned in the private lanes since 2019, with signs and fines. Do not follow a maiko or stop her: she is on her way to an appointment and she is late.
Other places in Kyoto
- Fushimi Inari-taishaTen thousand vermilion torii tunnelling up an entire mountain.
- Kinkaku-ji, the Golden PavilionTwo floors covered in gold leaf, set on a pond that doubles them.
- Arashiyama Bamboo GroveAn avenue of giant bamboo that closes off the sky, west of the city.
- Kiyomizu-deraA timber veranda built without a nail, hanging over the city, and the waterfall the temple is named after.