Blog
×
LANGUAGE
日本語
English
한국어
繁體中文
简体中文
ภาษาไทย
Tiếng Việt
In the northwest of Kyoto, at the foot of Mt Kinugasa, three temples stand in a row, each a component of the World Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto": Kinkakuji, Ryoanji and Ninnaji. The road linking them is called the Kinukake-no-Michi, and it is one of the few places among Kyoto's World Heritage sites where you can walk from one to the next. This article covers the highlights of the three temples, an order that lets you see them comfortably in a day, and how to combine buses with the Randen tram.
The formal names of the three temples are Rokuonji, Ryoanji and Ninnaji. Rokuonji is so famous for its Golden Pavilion that it is almost always called by its popular name, Kinkakuji. All three were registered in 1994 as components of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto".
The temples line up almost in a straight line, from Kinkakuji in the northeast to Ninnaji in the southwest. The road connecting them is known as the Kinukake-no-Michi — a fairly level road with the ridgeline of Mt Kinugasa on one side and residential streets and a university campus on the other. Kyoto's World Heritage sites are scattered widely across the city, and seeing several in one day is normally difficult, but these three can be visited in one continuous route on foot and by bus.
Rokuonji belongs to the Shokokuji branch of the Rinzai school and is one of the sub-temples of Shokokuji. The site was originally the villa of the Kamakura-period court noble Saionji Kintsune. In 1397, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, acquired it and built a mountain retreat called Kitayama-dono. After Yoshimitsu's death it became a Zen temple and was named Rokuonji.
At the heart of the grounds is the reliquary hall, the Golden Pavilion. It has a three-storey structure in which each level has a different character: the first houses a Shaka triad, the second is a hall dedicated to Kannon, and the third enshrines relics of the Buddha. The roof is covered with wooden shingles, and the entire second and third storeys are overlaid with gold leaf. It is regarded as the representative building of Kitayama culture.
The pavilion you see today, however, is not the original. It was destroyed by fire in 1950 and reconstructed as a restoration in 1955. Between 1986 and 1987 the gold leaf was replaced, using roughly 200,000 sheets of leaf thicker than before. Its present brilliance is the result of that work.
The garden is a stroll garden centred on the Kyokochi pond, designated a Special Historic Site and Special Place of Scenic Beauty. Using Mt Kinugasa as borrowed scenery and set with fine stones, it is laid out so that you walk around the pond while viewing the pavilion reflected in the water. Seeing it as one continuous landscape of pond and mountain, rather than just a building, changes the impression it makes.
Ryoanji is a Zen temple of the Myoshinji branch of the Rinzai school. It was founded in 1450 by Hosokawa Katsumoto, who acquired a villa of the Tokudaiji family and invited the monk Giten of Myoshinji as founding abbot. After being destroyed in the Onin War, the abbot's quarters were rebuilt in 1488 and the other halls were restored. The present abbot's quarters are the relocated hojo of Seigen-in, built in 1606.
What is known worldwide is the hojo garden — the rock garden. It is a flat rectangular garden enclosed on the east, south and west by earthen walls, in which 15 stones in five groups are set in white gravel, and nothing more. Neither its designer nor the exact date of its creation is known. Kyoto City describes it as "the ultimate form of the karesansui dry landscape garden, compressing nature into a small space and expressing it in abstract form". It is also known as the "Garden of the Tiger Cubs Crossing".
On the way from the main gate to the hojo lies the Kyoyochi pond. A national Place of Scenic Beauty, it was long called "Oshidori-ike" (mandarin duck pond), since mandarin ducks once gathered there in flocks. The pond dates back to the days of the Tokudaiji villa, and its gentle waterside scenery contrasts with the taut stillness of the rock garden. Rather than turning back after the rock garden, make time to walk around the pond as well.
Ninnaji is the head temple of the Omuro branch of Shingon Buddhism. In 886, the 58th emperor, Emperor Koko, vowed to build a temple, and his wish was carried through by the 59th emperor, Emperor Uda, who completed it in 888. Emperor Uda abdicated in 897, later took holy orders, and became the first head priest of Ninnaji as the cloistered Emperor Uda. Because members of the imperial family served as its head priests generation after generation, it has been ranked first among the monzeki temples and called "Omuro Gosho" (the Omuro Imperial Palace).
In the Onin War, which began in 1467, almost the entire temple was lost to fire. Restoration came only in the Edo period: in 1634 the 21st head priest, Prince Kakushin, petitioned the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu for its revival, and reconstruction of the complex was completed in 1646. The Nio Gate, the Middle Gate and the five-storey pagoda date from this time. The Kondo (main hall) is a large building seven bays wide and five deep, and with its surrounding lattice shutters it conveys well the character of Momoyama-period palace architecture.
Ninnaji is famous in spring for the Omuro cherries that spread inside the Middle Gate. Designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty in 1924, these trees are known for being unusually low. Ninnaji's own research found that the clay soil restrains the growth of their roots. They are among the latest to bloom in Kyoto, generally at their best in mid-April. The view of the five-storey pagoda over the low cherry trees has long been loved by many.
The basic order is Kinkakuji → Ryoanji → Ninnaji, for three reasons.
Kinkakuji to Ryoanji, and Ryoanji to Ninnaji, are both walkable distances. Walking the whole way, though, uses up energy before you have even entered the temples, so a realistic approach is to walk one section and take the bus for the other.
As a rough guide to time on site: Kinkakuji is relatively quick, since the route is a single loop; at Ryoanji allow time both to sit before the rock garden and to walk around the Kyoyochi pond; and at Ninnaji, with its large grounds, allow a little longer so you can go around calmly. At all three temples, admission hours change with the season, and closing may come earlier in winter. Check each temple's official information for the day's hours before setting out.
From Kyoto Station to Kinkakuji, you can take City Bus route 205. Get off at "Kinkakuji-michi"; the temple is about three minutes' walk. Besides route 205, routes 12, 59, 102 and 204, among others, stop at Kinkakuji-michi.
The route that links the three temples laterally is City Bus route 59. It stops at Kinkakuji-michi, Ryoanji-mae and Omuro Ninnaji, so it can be used directly for moving along the Kinukake-no-Michi. JR buses also stop at Ryoanji-mae in addition to city buses, and the temple is about one minute's walk from the stop. Routes 10, 26 and 59 stop at Omuro Ninnaji, and Ninnaji is right in front of the stop. If heading straight from Kyoto Station to Ninnaji, route 26 is another option.
By rail, the Randen (Keifuku Electric Railroad) is convenient. Ryoanji is about eight minutes' walk from Ryoanji Station, and Ninnaji about three minutes' walk from Omuro-Ninnaji Station. If you visit Ninnaji last, you can take the Randen straight on to Arashiyama. In periods when bus journey times are hard to predict, working the railway into your plan makes the day easier to schedule.
Kinkakuji is one of the most popular sights in Kyoto, and the route gets crowded during the day. Aiming for just after opening is the surest approach. Buses also tend to be packed on mornings in the tourist season, so allow plenty of time for the journey from Kyoto Station. Ryoanji's rock garden, by contrast, sometimes has quiet moments between tour groups. Ninnaji's grounds are large, and apart from cherry blossom season you can walk them without feeling much of a crowd.
Ginkakuji, often mentioned together with Kinkakuji, is formally called Higashiyama Jishoji and, like Kinkakuji, is a sub-temple of Shokokuji. It began as a mountain retreat built by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate. The Togudo, his private Buddhist chapel, was built in 1486, and the framework of the Silver Pavilion (formally the Kannon-den) was raised in 1489. Yoshimasa died without seeing the pavilion completed.
Ginkakuji, however, is in Higashiyama in eastern Kyoto, a cross-city journey from the Kinukake-no-Michi in the north. Trying to fit northern and eastern Kyoto into the same day means much of it is spent just getting between them. We recommend setting aside half a day for Ginkakuji as a separate eastern Kyoto route, combined with the Philosopher's Path, a walkway that follows the canal for about 2 km to Nyakuoji Shrine near Nanzenji.
*Information in this article is current as of August 2026. Visiting hours, admission fees and the areas open to the public are subject to change. Please check each temple's official information before you go.
Facebook
X (Twitter)
LINE
