Historical capital

It comes as little surprise that as Japan’s historical capital from 794 until 1868, Kyoto is the country’s most popular destination. It’s ancient treasures and historical sites teem with ‘tourist traffic’ as visitors attempt to satisfy their personal itineraries and cross off as many things possible from their ‘to do’ lists.

But for those wanting to savour a more tranquil visit to the ancient capital, an even more satisfying and richer historic does indeed exist beyond the high profile sights.

Take your time and do more than World Heritage stops and you’ll have quite another Kyoto experience. For every shrine and temple surrounded by scores of ‘selfie-hungry’ travellers, there are a dozen others wedged peacefully into hillsides, where locals consult fortune sticks and monks chant. 

Slow down and even its busy places reveal their delicate charms, though. Sightseers rush the famed Philosopher’s Path in an hour, but take time to sit on a bench, contemplate the clouds from a temple veranda or listen to birds twitter in bamboo and you’ll appreciate the very essence of Kyoto. A slower pace also allows you to stray from beaten tracks. There are reputedly 1500 temples and shrines in this city and time away from the path most taken will unearth many an overlooked treasure. 

Take Nanzen-ji Temple, one of Kyoto’s busiest, as an example. Tourists flock towards the main hall, mostly oblivious to the compound’s many dainty sub-temples, the best of which is Tenju-an for its gorgeous garden. Wander away from Nanzen-ji Temple altogether and, just nearby, you’ll find silent Nanzen Okunoin grotto tucked into a wooded hillside in one direction, and the mossy gates of Hoen-in Temple in the other. This temple, magically overlooked, has leafy pond gardens and one of the city’s most beautiful Buddha images. Also nearby is Murin-an Villa, built for a nineteenth-century prime minister, where you can sometimes have the teahouse entirely to yourself.

Even in the middle of downtown geisha district Gion, you might find Kennin-ji Temple, overlooked behind high walls. It’s Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple, founded in 1202 and rich in painted scenes depicting dragons. The tiny Zen garden at its heart – raked gravel, a single tree, a circle of moss – is superb in its simplicity.

There are tranquil treasures everywhere if you take the time to look. While the best-known sights are crammed, around the corner just as delightful destinations have scarcely a visitor. Off the busy Philosopher’s Path, tranquil Otoyo-jinja Shrine pushes up against a forested hillside and is notable for its statues of guardian mice. Nearby at 12th-century Nyakuoji-Jinja Shrine, you’re likely to encounter only locals, who come to write their wishes on wooden ema boards, and quietly clap their hands in front of the altar to attract the attention of Shinto gods.

Similarly, you can stroll not far beyond the gates of Tofuku-ji Temple, especially famous for its autumn foliage, and find rarely-visited Komyo-in Temple, which has a petite but marvellously presented Zen garden below a sheltering hillside of azaleas and maple trees. It isn’t a famous destination, but sometimes the best garden is the quietest garden. Sit on a tatami mat and contemplate the upright stones amid the gravel that represent Buddha preaching to his disciples, and the only thing that might disturb you is the croaking of frogs. It’s in such places, over the horizon from the tour-coach trail, that you can really appreciate the apparent simplicity and restrained elegance of Japanese garden design. 

If the weather takes a turn, head indoors. Kyoto has some excellent museums that are perplexingly under-visited. Kyoto Railway Museum is one of the best transport museums in the world. You can take vintage steam-train rides, admire train-related memorabilia and try your skills as a bullet-train driver on a simulator. The museum displays numerous shinkansenbullet trains, including one of the sleek originals from the 1960s.

On the cultural side, Kyoto National Museum displays the sculptures, paintings and lacquerware seldom seen in the often-empty rooms of the city’s temples and palaces. The textile collection features elaborate robes and kimonos embroidered with birds and flowers. Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts explains how these various arts – from kimono making to ceramics and enamelware – were honed to near-perfection over centuries. Don’t miss the section devoted to karutaplaying cards; Nintendo got its start in Kyoto as a karuta manufacturer. 

Follow the craft trail and you get away from mainstream tourists and experience Kyoto’s living culture. At Ando Japanese Doll Shop, you’ll find superb hina dolls arrayed in shimmering silk clothing embroidered with gold and platinum thread. At Sagaraden Nomura you can take classes in mother-of-pearl inlay with a family that makes contemporary jewellery and utensils for tea ceremonies. And at Hayashi Ryushodo, you can have your own custom incense sticks made by a sixth-generation master who supplies many of Kyoto’s temples. The scent of agar and sandalwood floats around this back-alley shop, seemingly barely changed in a hundred years.

Get retro in Kyoto and it’s as if you’ve slipped through a looking glass into another world that has never heard of mass tourism. Several upmarket, big-name hotels have opened in recent years, but stay in a ryokan or traditional inn if you want to escape the tumult. Former imperial villa Yoshida-Sanso Ryokan is one of Japan’s most illustrious. It sits in a lovely corner of Kyoto surrounded by imperial tombs and Buddhist temples and exemplifies the graceful ritual and attentive hospitality of old Japan. 

Yoshida-Sanso’s minimalism of sliding doors, tatami mats and garden outlooks framed in windows should encourage your inner Zen. Guests are served elaborately presented kaiseki meals that are a form of meditation in themselves. You feel as if the mad rush of the world has stilled for a while, and that Kyoto has unfurled its true delights.