Last year I only stayed in Kyoto for two days, so there were plenty of places I didn’t get to visit and it felt a bit unfinished. This year we stayed for five nights, and after a while, even the peak-bloom cherry blossoms and all the temples and shrines started to blur together.

Back in Kyoto

We asked the hotel to call us a taxi and took it to the Kintetsu station. Nara has both a JR station and a Kintetsu station, and it’s pretty easy to mix them up, so make sure you know which one you need.

As soon as we got to the station, there happened to be a limited express about to leave. We hurriedly bought two tickets, lugged all our bags on board, and it honestly felt like the train even waited for us for a moment, which was pretty embarrassing. The car we boarded happened to be one of those cars with small private compartments. It was my first time seeing that setup, with stairs going up and down, and it was very inconvenient with suitcases. So instead of making our way to the car listed on our tickets, we gave up and just sat in the nearest regular car, where there were plenty of empty seats. Later, when the ticket inspector checked our tickets, the seat numbers didn’t match where we were actually sitting, but they didn’t say anything.

We got to Kyoto quickly; the limited express really was fast. I had originally planned to try taking public transit from Kyoto Station to a subway stop closer to the hotel and then grab a taxi from there, but after looking around Kyoto Station, I couldn’t even figure out where the subway was, so we just took a cab. Compared with the long taxi line last year, this time it was only a little after 8, so there was no wait at all. But the Japanese can be very rigid: since we had a lot of luggage, they insisted on assigning us the small car at the very front of the line in order, and it took forever to load the bags. We tried every possible angle before finally squeezing everything in.

                                                First Impressions of Roku Kyoto

This time, my travel companion and I each used one Hilton FN to book two nights at Roku Kyoto. Roku Kyoto is in the northwest corner of Kyoto, quite far from both the main sightseeing areas and the central dining and shopping districts. Public transportation nearby is also very inconvenient, so getting around basically means taking taxis.

When we arrived at the hotel, no bell staff came out to greet us, which immediately made me wonder if the service might not be great. After a while, a young woman came out, not especially warm, and even when helping with the luggage she seemed distracted. She brought the bags to the entrance, casually told us to come back in the afternoon to check in and said we could rest in the tea room across the way, then walked off.

To be fair, the tea room—or really the whole hotel’s decor—immediately gave off that Kyoto atmosphere. There was also that distinctly Japanese fragrance in the air.

After a short rest, we called a car ourselves and headed to Ryoan-ji. Roku Kyoto may be out of the way, but getting a ride was actually pretty easy—whether through Uber or Go, a car would arrive in about 10 minutes.

Ryoan-ji

Since we were staying in a remote area, we decided to start with the sights in the more out-of-the-way part of town. So on the first day, we began with attractions near the hotel. Roku is only about 10 minutes from Ryoan-ji, which was very convenient.

Ryoan-ji (りょうあんじ) is a temple of the Myoshin-ji branch of the Rinzai school, located in Ukyo Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is famous for its rock garden. Its mountain name is Daigunzan. Ryoan-ji was founded in Hotoku 2 (1450). Its principal image is Shakyamuni Buddha, its founder was Hosokawa Katsumoto, and its founding head priest was Giten Gensho. It is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When Queen Elizabeth II visited Japan in 1975, she expressed a wish to see the garden at Ryoan-ji; after visiting, she praised it highly, which helped make the temple’s garden famous around the world. Some experts have studied the garden and believe it contains hidden structural elements designed to engage viewers’ unconscious visual sensitivity. Ryoan-ji’s rock garden is one of Japan’s most famous masterpieces of karesansui dry landscape design.

Maybe because it’s so well known among foreign visitors, there were actually more white tourists than Asian tourists at Ryoan-ji.

Many people were sitting by the rock garden just taking it in.

What do you call these super-straight trees? For some reason this whole grove felt oddly funny.

In the lakeside garden near the exit, the wisteria had not bloomed yet, but cherry blossoms were fluttering everywhere. It was my first time experiencing a true sakura shower.

                                                         Hirano Shrine

Hirano Shrine is a favorite cherry blossom viewing spot among Kyoto locals, yet it is relatively uncrowded. There are about 45 varieties of cherry blossoms here, with more than 500 trees. The busiest time is from late March to mid-April each year, and there are also nighttime cherry blossom viewing events. In addition, the shrine grounds have more than 1500 Murasaki Shikibu plants, with October being the best viewing season each year.

Taking a taxi from Ryoan-ji to Hirano Shrine was almost comically short—just 900 yen, and the driver did not even want to take a credit card. Hirano Shrine itself is free, but during cherry blossom season, the cherry blossom garden has a separate admission fee of 500 per person.

The moment we entered the garden, it was a wow moment—absolutely worth the money. The cherry trees were abundant and densely packed. There were quite a few visitors, but most seemed to be locals, so it never felt crowded. If you are in Kyoto for cherry blossoms, this is absolutely a place to visit. Once we came here, it felt like this year’s sakura season was complete.

The cherry trees were all enclosed like this.

The exit of the cherry blossom garden is also the entrance to the shrine, so we walked through that too.

The weather was fantastic that day too, so we went photo-crazy.

The cherry blossom garden is not large. After making a loop, we found a few food trucks and sat down to enjoy the blossoms while eating yakisoba, which was actually pretty tasty, plus the ice cream the kid wanted.

As it happened, the shrine had ceremonial banners hanging up, which was pretty interesting.

These weeping cherry blossoms were beautiful too, though my photography skills were not good enough to capture how nice they looked in person.

Kitano Tenmangu Shrine

Kitano Tenmangu is located in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, and is one of the country’s most famous shrines. Together with Dazaifu Tenmangu and Hofu Tenmangu, it is known as one of Japan’s three great Tenjin shrines. Along with Dazaifu Tenmangu, it also serves as a head shrine of Tenmangu shrines throughout Japan and as a center of Tenjin worship. It is one of the Twenty-Two Shrines and formerly held the rank of Chukan-sha under the modern shrine ranking system (now designated as a Beppyo Shrine of the Association of Shinto Shrines).

From Hirano Shrine, it was just a short walk to the back gate of Kitano Tenmangu. These sights are all very convenient to visit while staying at Roku.

We stopped to read people’s wishes here, and most of them were about school admissions and exams.

The shrine maidens' outfits are so pretty! Every time I see one, I want to take a photo.

In Japan, it's easy to get drawn in by all kinds of limited-time offerings. Sure enough, Kitano Tenmangu also had a special limited-entry garden, so I obediently bought a ticket.

The garden isn't large, but buying a ticket was worth it for the peace and quiet. The red bridge and greenery complemented each other beautifully.

We rested here for quite a while. There were very few people, and it was wonderfully peaceful—a quiet retreat amid the bustle of cherry blossom season.

Along the way, we came across a cute animal cafe where you could pet all kinds of small animals.

Chion-in

Besides the sights near Roku, we had also planned to visit a famous cherry blossom spot closer to central Kyoto this day, just as the sakura snow was about to begin. We first took a bus to Chion-in.

Chion-in is the head temple of the Jodo sect of Japanese Buddhism. Every New Year's Eve, the bell here is rung 108 times to symbolize the casting away of the year's misfortunes. Chion-in's main gate, the Sanmon, is the largest wooden temple gate in Japan. The Chion-in bell in the temple plaza is Japan's largest bonsho temple bell, and the temple also houses the world's largest rosary, measuring more than 110 meters in length, which can be seen inside the main hall.

If the gates at the temples we'd visited before were normal-sized, then Chion-in's gate could only be described as grand. The purple curtain hanging at the entrance was especially striking.

A light breeze came through, and a flurry of cherry blossoms swept across the entrance to Chion-in.

After entering, we first had to climb a steep flight of stairs...

The vending machine even had Chion-in special-edition tea, which is exactly the kind of thing that appeals to me.

Maruyama Park

Maruyama Park is a park located in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture. It is designated as a national Place of Scenic Beauty. The park adjoins Higashiyama, Yasaka Shrine, Kodai-ji, Chion-in, and more. It is a famous cherry blossom viewing spot, best known for the Gion Shidare-zakura. It was originally part of the grounds of Yasaka Shrine. The park's strolling Japanese garden was designed by Jihei Ogawa, and it also features an outdoor music hall and bronze statues of Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro.

From the back gate of Chion-in, follow the small path ahead. After a short downhill walk, you'll reach one corner of Maruyama Park—just enter from the side path.

The cherry blossoms at Maruyama Park were also excellent—second only to Hirano Shrine. The park was also filled mostly with Japanese locals, all relaxing and enjoying themselves. The kids even watched an entire magic show and were completely absorbed. Our introverted child also gave money to a street performer for the first time.

Next to the park was a long stretch of food stalls extending all the way to Yasaka Shrine. It was a perfect scene of bright, beautiful spring.

Yasaka Shrine

Rather than feeling like a shrine, it felt more like a park. Food stalls filled the shrine grounds, and the ground was dotted with greasy spots left behind by the vendors, along with the rich aroma of street food everywhere.

The sunset was gorgeous.

For a family like ours with only average stamina, we usually visit just two or three sights in a day. On this day, we exceeded our usual quota, so we definitely deserved a delicious dinner as a reward.

On the bus ride to the restaurant, we passed by Nishiki Market.

Photos Missed in the Previous Post

Maruyama Park in the bright spring sunshine.Inside Ryoan-ji, whose style was similar to Kennin-ji, which we visited last year.At Ryoan-ji, everyone sat and admired the karesansui rock garden.Cherry blossoms at Hirano Shrine photographed by my teammate.And the food truck under the cherry trees.Kitano Tenmangu~At the end of this road, don’t turn—take the small path, and you can get from Chion-in to Maruyama Park.Yasaka Shrine, with huge crowds at the entrance.

Muromachi Wakuden

After browsing the top 100 highest-rated restaurants in Kyoto, I found that Kyoto’s standout restaurants are mainly kaiseki places. Sushi is comparatively weaker, and the city’s overall range of cuisines is not as broad as in major cities like Tokyo and Osaka.

So even though kaiseki didn’t really win me over last year, I still went ahead and booked two more places this year to give it another shot. If it still doesn’t click, that probably just means kaiseki isn’t for us.
Most of Kyoto’s standout restaurants are clustered around Shijo, especially the Shijo Takakura and Shijo Kawaramachi area. This restaurant is no exception.

“Wakuden” began as a ryokan in Tango in 1870, carrying on a tradition of presenting the authentic flavors nurtured by nature with an unadorned spirit, guided by the natural tastes of the four seasons.

This branch, Muromachi Wakuden, has an impressive 4.02 rating on tabelog. It was also the first restaurant above 4.0 that we had managed to visit while traveling around with a kid. Reservations actually weren’t too difficult—I booked directly on the official website. After booking, I had to coordinate and change the reservation twice for various reasons, and the restaurant was gracious about it both times.

As soon as we arrived, the proprietress hurried out to greet us and was incredibly welcoming. We were seated in a private room on the second floor.

A bilingual Japanese-English menu had already been prepared.

My husband ordered the house signature sake. I, as usual, went with the thoroughly unadventurous fruit liqueur.

The first course was steamed egg custard in sanbokan citrus, with white fish and sea cucumber roe inside. The texture was layered and the seasoning was just right.

...and the plating was beautiful too.

I really liked the second course: pen shell, ark shell, and sea urchin, dressed with mustard-vinegar miso and a vinegar jelly. It was a very refreshing dish. The older I get, the more I appreciate lighter, cleaner flavors.

The kid’s set meal was also very generous, and our picky little eater couldn’t finish it at all.

It even included our kid’s favorite sukiyaki.

This octopus and broad bean rice dish was delicious—even for someone like me who’s usually only lukewarm on octopus.

Tempura. Sweetfish is one of those springtime items on Japanese menus that I force myself to swallow every single time. It really is bitter.

This soup wasn’t all that different from what you get at other kaiseki places, but it was solid and dependable.

The sashimi was reliably good as well.

Dessert was served for our child first: two white strawberries. After finishing them, the kid asked for more.

Then the proprietress came in carrying—yes, carrying—a gigantic bamboo shoot. I had never seen one that large before. She said the chef had dug it up himself early that morning in a village near Kyoto. While I was saying, “That’s amazing,” I was also privately assuming such a massive bamboo shoot would be divided among all the guests. To my complete surprise, though, this turned out to be the amount for just the two of us.

On spring kaiseki menus, bamboo shoots often take center stage. Apparently this restaurant is no exception. The chef personally came in to prepare it. First we had it simmered, then grilled and paired with pufferfish milt.

The bamboo shoot was incredibly fresh and sweet; one bite released a delicate sweetness and lots of fragrant juices.

These two ingredients didn’t really come together all that well—each tasted like its own separate thing. Still, I was so happy to get pufferfish milt again!

After eating half of that giant bamboo shoot, I have to admit I kind of overdid it. It was tasty, yes, but for the next few days I practically recoiled at the very mention of bamboo shoots.

The fish course wasn’t especially memorable in the context of the whole menu—just okay.

The beef in this kaiseki meal was also very tender without being fatty or greasy, which reminded me of the beef at the kaiseki place we visited last year. This course was a bitter greens hot pot, with all the vegetables on the bitter side, which actually helped cut the richness.

After the beef came the usual trio of rice, pickles, and miso soup.

After that, there were still more carb options to choose from. I was already absolutely stuffed, so I asked for a small portion of each: snow crab leg rice with egg, the sticky grated yam I love, and clam noodles.

The best of the three was definitely the snow crab leg rice with egg.

For dessert, I had originally wanted to pick just one, but the proprietress was so enthusiastic and insisted each serving was very small. It was hard to say no, so we got them all.

Yuzu jelly.

Downed a whole bowl of matcha! My favorite matcha is still the bowl served during our stay at Hakone Byakudan—the seasoning there was exactly to my taste.

Cherry blossom yokan. As we all know, sakura desserts are usually kind of underwhelming, and this one was no exception.

We both really liked this restaurant. The overall standard was high, and there were little surprises along the way—though the sheer volume of bamboo shoot was definitely startling. Still, I’d recommend it. Kaiseki is generally delicate and lightly seasoned, so if you usually prefer bold flavors and don’t enjoy ingredients in their purest form, you may want to skip kaiseki. The best meal is the one that suits your taste.

By the time we finished dinner, it was already 8:30 p.m. It was also the last day of the Nijo Castle night cherry blossom event, but after thinking about it, we decided to skip it—we had already been running on fumes all day. We quickly grabbed a taxi back to the hotel to check in.

I’ll stop here for now. In the next post, I’ll talk more about the Roku hotel.

About the Author

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