[Kyoto National Museum Highlights Guide] Don’t Miss Kyoto-Connected Cultural Treasures and Beautiful Architecture!

The Meiji Kotokan (Meiji Old Capital Hall) is the oldest building at the Kyoto National Museum.
It’s a Western-style brick building designed by an engineer from the Imperial Household Ministry (the government office in charge of imperial affairs).
Its exterior is Baroque, reflecting the era when the Renaissance was popular in France.
Blending in Japanese sensibilities, it’s finished in a refined and stylish way.
A modern wall running from the main gate to the south gate was also built around the same time.

The Heisei Chishinkan was newly built on the same site in 2013 after the former Permanent Exhibition Hall was demolished.
One of its charms is the exhibition space based on straight lines and its open, airy lobby.
The Masterpieces Gallery (permanent exhibitions) is held here, where you can enjoy a wide range of works centered on Kyoto’s traditional culture.
Don’t miss the displays of tea ceremony utensils and crafts.
In the basement theater, programs about the museum’s collection are shown.
Audio guides in English, Chinese, and Korean are available to rent for 500 yen each, so you can listen to explanations of the cultural properties even if you don’t understand Japanese—another great point.
Special exhibitions feature outstanding works woven from Japanese culture and tradition, such as Buddhist statues and calligraphy and paintings after restoration.

Cultural properties are also displayed outdoors, so be sure to take a stroll around the grounds.
In the “fountain area,” you’ll find Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker.
Other displays include the nationally designated historic site Hoko-ji Temple Stone Wall and the Thirteen-Story Stone Pagoda built in the Kamakura period, both of which evoke a strong sense of history.
The “West Garden area” has many stone Buddhas and foundation stones, so stop by as you walk around.
The “East Garden area” is also landscaped as a garden featuring stone relics.
As you take it all in, it can feel surprisingly moving, so relax and enjoy the outdoor exhibits.

A temple located in Higashiyama, one of Kyoto’s top tourist areas and home to Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Yasaka Shrine.
Its official name is Daikokuzan Kongo-ji Koshin-do, and locals affectionately call it “Yasaka no Koshin-san.”
It’s said to be the first place in Japan to begin the Koshin faith, which originated in Chinese Taoism, and is also one of the Three Great Koshin sites in Japan.
What stands out most in the grounds are the “kukurizaru,” colorful cloth charms that have become a popular topic on social media in recent years.
These talismans show monkeys bound at the hands and feet, symbolizing calming and controlling a constantly moving mind, like a monkey always on the go.

Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple and the head temple of the Kennin-ji branch of the Rinzai school.
The Dharma Hall is an impressive Zen-style Buddhist hall structure: five bays by four bays, single-story, with a surrounding pent roof (mokoshi).
The famous ceiling painting “Twin Dragons” was painted by artist Junsaku Koizumi in 2002 to commemorate the temple’s 800th anniversary, and it boasts a magnificent scale spanning 108 tatami mats.
Next, the Hojo (abbot’s quarters) on the north side was relocated in 1599 from Ankoku-ji Temple in Aki, and together with the 50-panel fusuma paintings by Kaiho Yusho from the Momoyama period, it is designated a nationally Important Cultural Property.

A shrine in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, enshrining Emperor Sutoku, Minamoto no Yorimasa, and Okuninushi no Mikoto invited from Kotohira-gu Shrine in Sanuki, and long beloved as “Yasui no Konpira-san.”
The reason it’s popular as an “en-kiri shrine” (for cutting ties) is the Enkiri Enmusubi Stone Monument on the grounds.
This massive, ema-shaped stone—Approx. 1.5 m high and Approx. 3 m wide—stands next to the worship hall and is said to be imbued with the power to cut bad ties and bring good ones. The steps are: first, pray at the main hall, then write your wish on a substitute paper talisman called a katashiro and bring it to the stone. While focusing on your wish, pass through the hole from the front to cut bad ties, then pass through from the back to the front to form good ties.

A yuba specialty restaurant on Gojo-dori, the street that leads to Kiyomizu-dera Temple, one of Kyoto’s biggest tourist attractions.
Yuba is made by gently heating soy milk in a double boiler and using the thin film that forms on the surface. As a plant-based shojin (Buddhist vegetarian) ingredient that uses no meat or fish, it has been used since ancient times, and it’s also gaining attention as a healthy food rich in protein and fats.
Because artisans handle every step of the process, each sheet of yuba is carefully lifted by hand, with fine adjustments—such as thickness—made to suit each dish, a detail worth noting.

A long-established restaurant loved for 400 years since its founding in 1624.
Its name comes from an episode in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi once took off his straw sandals (waraji) here to rest.
The signature course “Unabe to Uzofusui” lets you enjoy both at once: “unabe,” a soup-style dish made with domestically sourced eel, and “uzofusui,” a rice porridge cooked in a fresh pot with rice, vegetables, and grilled eel (shirayaki).

Honke Daiichi Asahi, located in the area known as “Takabashi,” about a 5-minute walk from JR Kyoto Station, is a long-established shop founded in 1947 and is exceptionally well-known in Kyoto, a city packed with ramen restaurants.
You can tell just how popular it is from the long lines that form outside even before it opens at 6:00am.