Spatial design review: Koto-in zen temple
Living in Kyoto for more than three years, I would pick Koto-in (高桐院), a zen temple located off the tourist track, if someone asked me for just one single must-see place in Kyoto during the late autumn of reddened maple leaf beauty.
The temple is an endless sequence of beautiful views. The approach to the entrance gate is already different from any other places in Kyoto:
As clearly seen, you have to turn left. Then you will see through the open gate a bamboo forest:
Again you have to turn, this time to your right. Then you’ll be greeted with another astounding view:
Turn right and then left. You finally arrive at the main temple building:
Once you pay the entrance fee of 500 yen (about 5 US dollars), you’re free to wander around inside the building with never-ending garden views. The most beautiful is the south garden:
Even the passage to the rest room is lined with photo-shooting spots:
If you are a fan of the Japanese tea ceremony, this temple has two excellent tea rooms. At the rear of the building sits Shoko-ken (松向軒), built in 1628. You cannot enter the room, but the view from where the tea master would enter to serve a cup of tea demonstrates the beauty of designing how the sunlight falls in to the interior:
The other tea room is Horai (鳳来), built in the early 20th century. It is more spacious and more elegant, but never extravagant:
The horizontal slits above the paper screens let in the sunlight in rainbow colors due to the autumn leaves in the garden behind:
You can walk around the garden over stepping stones, a quintessential feature of the Japanese garden for tea ceremony:
The rain gutter around the building foundation is texturized with the cross-sections of charcoal:
Inside the rooms, pendant lamps never appear out of the place even though they are not part of the historical Japanese interior architecture:
It is very hard to leave this zen temple. Beauty is everywhere, but it’s not the extravagant kind. It’s the zen kind of beauty.
Still, everyone needs to go home by some time. Walking backwards through the entrance foot path won’t disappoint you:
All the photos in this article were taken by Masa Kudamatsu, the author of this article, on the late morning of 26 November, 2019.
How to get there
NOTE: Since 2020, Koto-in Temple has been closed to the public due to the pandemic.
The easiest way is to take Kyoto Metro Karasuma Line to Kita-oji (北大路: station number K04). Then:
- Follow the sign for Kita-oji Bus Terminal (北大路バスターミナル).
- In the terminal, find the bus stops F and G from which you can take bus 204, 205 or 206. (Take the one that comes first.)
- Get off at the 4th stop, Kenkun Jinja-mae (建勲神社前).
- Walk to the west along the boulevard (in the same direction as the bus you took)
- At the first traffic signal, and turn right by crossing the boulevard.
- Walk to the north for about five minutes. Koto-in is on your left.
The Google Map link is here. Beware: Google Map’s “Directions” will (as of November 2019) take you to the west side of the Koto-in Temple where you cannot enter the temple. Don’t be fooled: the entrance is on the east side of the temple.
Other online travel guide articles on Koto-in
Note: you may find an article saying “Koto-in is currently closed for renovation.” This is no longer true: after more than two years of roof renovation and restoration from the damage caused by the 2018 typhoon, it was re-opened 11 November 2019.
