Kyoto Hidden Local Cherry Blossom Spot and Zen Garden

Overview

A limited-time half day in Kyoto, about 4 hours, with a local guide who speaks English. The day is also offered in Japanese. It is a shared walk for up to 8 guests. An adult needs to be on the booking. Mandala Japan Experience runs the day.

The guide uses the blossom calendar, from early Kawazu cherries, through Somei Yoshino, to later Yae cherries, so the viewing spot can change with what is in bloom. The published route pairs that stop with Shimogamo Shrine and the moss garden at Komyo-in, a sub-temple of Tofuku-ji.

Meet in front of the restaurant facing the Kamogawa River. You make your own way there. The guide sends a photo the day before. The day ends at Yodo Station on the Keihan Line, for the city center or for Fushimi Inari. You pay your own trains and buses. Public transit is nearby.

Komyo-in charges ¥500 per person for the zen garden. Book the garden-entrance option and that fee is covered. On the other option, you pay ¥500 at the garden. The Shimogamo and Tofuku-ji stops do not add an admission charge.

• Offered in English and Japanese
• Mobile ticket
• Strollers are fine
• Skip this walk with poor cardiovascular health, weak legs and joints, or late pregnancy
• Cancel at least 24 hours before the start for a full refund, in local time

A different Kyoto day is the private van through Kinkaku-ji, Arashiyama, and Fushimi Inari. Stays in the city include Hilton Kyoto and the Hyatt Regency Kyoto. Kyoto is also on the sample Japan tour.

Itinerary

Stop lengths below are the ones on the listing. The day is about 4 hours. The blossom stop can change with the bloom.

Shimogamo Shrine

About 1 hour 30 minutes at Shimogamo Shrine (Shimogamo Jinja), a UNESCO site and one of Japan’s oldest Shinto shrines. The walk goes through Tadasu no Mori, a forest the listing dates at about 1,000 years. At the Mitarai River, plum and cherry blossoms frame the vermilion bridges. This stop does not add an admission charge.

Tofuku-ji

About 1 hour at Tofuku-ji. The Sanmon Gate is the oldest Zen gate of its kind in Japan. The temple is known for autumn maples seen from Tsutenkyo Bridge (Bridge to Heaven), over a valley of maple trees. Outside that season the scale of the buildings is the visit. This stop does not add an admission charge.

Komyo-in

About 45 minutes at Komyo-in, a quiet sub-temple of Tofuku-ji. The listing calls it the Rainbow Moss Temple. Hashintei is a dry garden by Mirei Shigemori. Stones stand for rays of light through moss and white sand. The zen garden entrance is ¥500 per person. That fee is covered on the garden-entrance option. On the other option, you pay it at the garden.

Yodo cherry trees

About 45 minutes at the blossom stop. The listing leaves this stop unnamed and describes the Yodo area, south of the city center: a row of Kawazu cherries along a canal, a deeper pink than Somei Yoshino, in bloom in February and early March. The guide can switch this stop when another variety is the one in flower. This stop does not add an admission charge. The day ends at Yodo Station on the Keihan Line.