Kyoto Tour
- Kyoto
- Active & Adventure
| from $325* per person | 2 Days | March-May, September, October |
| Comfort accommodations | Exertion level: 3 | |
| Operator: Walk Japan Limited | 12 people max | |
Walk Japan's two day Kyoto Tour takes us through the city's rich history while exploring in depth some famous and some less well-known areas that were instrumental in making Kyoto the cultural capital of Japan. A fully guided, unique look into Japan's old capital, its history, arts, crafts and people.
Kyoto was originally known as Heian-kyo, the capital of peace and tranquility, and modelled on Chang-an, the great capital of the Chinese Tang empire. Kyoto remained the home of the imperial court for eleven centuries before it was removed to Tokyo in the late 19th Century. Over 1100 years as the imperial home, Kyoto justly became one of the great cities of the world. At times it experienced turbulence and violence but, and often at the same time, it was where some of the most distinct and exquisite arts and one of the greatest cultures of the world were cultivated. This was so to the extent that today to talk of the culture of Kyoto is often to talk of Japan’s as a whole. Our gently paced, walking tour unveils Kyoto’s importance at the heart of Japanese culture and history in typical Walk Japan style, inimitable and fascinating.
2000 temples and shrines, 17 of which are listed by UNESCO as world heritage sites, together with many gardens and other sites of interest make for an overwhelming number of places to visit in Kyoto. Of these, Walk Japan’s Kyoto Tour visits some of the famous and not-so-famous to provide a coherent and fascinating experience for an understanding of how the city came to nurture such arts as Noh Theatre and chado, the Way of Tea. We learn of the colourful historical personalities such as the Ashikaga Shoguns Yoshimitsu and Yoshimasa, the Tea master Sen-no-Rikyu, Haiku poet Basho and great samurai warriors, Kiyomori and Nobunaga.
We will learn how much of the beauty that resides in Kyoto and Japanese culture developed in spite of internecine warfare, treachery and murder, combined sometimes with Nero-like indifference to the surrounding mayhem by its rulers. We will also enjoy a hands-on experience of chado, also known as the Tea Ceremony, in the company of a expert tea master that penetrates to the heart of this often misunderstood art.
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Locations visited/nearby
Japan
Itinerary
Day 1
The group meets at 8.30 am at
Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion temple, that was built by the 8th
Ashikaga Shogun in the late 15th Century. In the beautiful surroundings
of this temple we begin our introduction to Higashiyama (East Mountain)
Culture and its greatest development, the chado tea ceremony.
The Silver Pavilion, an exquisite structure that is silver in name
only, is set in a beautiful garden and provides an apposite setting for
the beginning of our exploration of Kyoto. From here we take a
leisurely stroll along the Philosopher's Path, through quiet suburbs
and past temples to Heian-jingu Shrine. Here we explore Kyoto's Shinto
roots and gain an idea of how Kyoto used to look in its earliest days.
Later we visit a nearby museum for an entertaining introduction to the
many and splendid crafts of the city.
From here we transfer by taxi across to Daitoku-ji temple, one of
Japan’s finest Zen monasteries, a complex of main and sub-temples
covering 56 acres. After soaking up the serene atmosphere and learning
about the temple’s greatest resident, the tea master Sen-no Rikyu, we
lunch within Daitoku-ji at a restaurant specialising in shojin ryori, delicious
vegetarian temple cuisine.
From
here we walk a short distance to meet Jack, our tea master and pupil,
albeit several generations removed, of Sen-no-Rikyu. In his expert and
insightful company we experience chado and, as Jack says, ‘Just make a cup of tea’ for each other.
Afterwards
we transfer by taxi to central Kyoto for an exploration of Nishiki,
Kyoto’s lively central market, where a plethora of food items, many not
so familiar, please the eye and whet the appetite. Nearby is the
Tera-machi area, where many of Kyoto's specialist shops are located.
Although
the tour does not extend into the evening, your guide will be
available to either make suggestions where you may like to eat for your
evening meal or join you, if you wish.
Day 2
The second day starts at 8.45am at
Nijo-jo castle, where we will see the magnificent audience halls built
for the Tokugawa Shoguns, the rulers of Japan in the Edo Period.
Transferring to Rokuon-ji temple by taxi we are introduced to Kitayama
(North Mountain) Culture in the environs of Kinkaku, the Golden
Pavilion. The Pavilion, coated in gold leaf and reflected in a lake, is
probably Japan’s most recognisable icon.
We travel on to nearby Ryoan-ji temple and it's world famous garden, considered the epitome of a Zen garden. From there it is a short walk to a small train station, where we ride a local tram-cum-train to Arashiyama in the west of Kyoto. We lunch here on soba, buckwheat, noodles. A simple but delicious and popular dish. After, we stroll through the low hills of Arashiyama. The scenery is more reminiscent of rural Japan than a city and here we visit a gorgeous, almost delicate temple that is associated with Gio, a concubine of Taira-no-Kiyomori. Taira was a central figure in the Tale of Heike, the epic story of the power struggle between the Taira and Minamoto Clans that engulfed Japan in the 12th Century. Here we also visit Rakushisha, which is forever associated with Japan’s greatest poet, Basho.
We continue on our walk through quiet, elegant suburbs before taking another train back to Shijo-Omiya in west-central Kyoto where the tour ends.
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