投稿タイプ：itineraries

Travel around the sights: Kyoto City’s suburbs

The suburbs of Kyoto with its own history, historical landmarks, scenery, and specialties nurtured by different climates has a different look and feel from the main city. Luckily, it is just a quick hop out of Kyoto City. Here's a course that makes efficient use of public transportation as you tour around everything from streets that still have an ancient feel to them to famous tourist spots popular with people from all over the world and power spots where you can get in touch with nature.

Take the Kansai Airport Express Haruka from Kansai International Airport to Kyoto.
By train (Kansai Airport Express Haruka (JR Kansai Airport Line) to Kyoto): 1 hr 20 mins

投稿タイプ：restaurants

Chatei Fu-an

Established in 1995, Chatei Fu-an was the first tea boutique in the Otokuni Region of Kyoto Prefecture. It's accredited as an Uji tea café, and here you can find the kind of Uji matcha green tea, high-quality gyokuro green tea, medium grade sencha tea, select houjicha roasted green tea, and select genmaicha (tea with roasted rice) you can only find in a boutique. Each tea is carefully brewed for your enjoyment.
Chatei Fu-an also offers a variety of original drinks and sweets made with matcha, and original dishes made with tea leaves.

投稿タイプ：restaurants

Nagaokakyo City Kinsuitei

Founded in 1881, this restaurant incorporates a pond constructed by the 14th century Imperial Prince Toshihito and sukiya-style gazebos of various sizes. Take in the seasonal views as you enjoy Kinsuitei's renowned bamboo shoot cuisine.

投稿タイプ：stay

Kyoto Guest Inn Nagaokakyo

Kyoto Guest Inn Nagaokakyo is conviently located outside of Kyoto with easy access to Osaka and Kobe, making it ideal for sightseeing in Kansai. The attached bar is renovated from a 100 year-old warehouse, which provides a great atmosphere to sit and enjoy a relaxing evening.
Kyoto Guest Inn Nagaokakyo values its connection with the local area and its history, and the inn uses bamboo through the building, including in each of the 4 guest rooms, as it is a symbol of Nagaokakyo. The inn also offers traditional Japanese cultural experiences such as tea ceremony.

投稿タイプ：stay

Hotel Discover Kyoto Nagaokakyo

Hotel Discover Nagaokakyo opened in September 2019. This concept hotel offers a new way to enjoy a trip that connects people and towns through experiences and local connections. Located conveniently right in front of Hankyu Nagaoka Tenjin Station, it is only 15 minute sfrom the hotel to the center of Kyoto city. The hotel offers of variety of twin bed rooms, as well as experiences of zen meditation, tea ceremony, samurai sword fighting, and more. At the café and bar Machibaru SUBACO on the first floor of the hotel, you can find local vegetables, eggs, pickles, and sake that can only be tasted in Nagaokakyo.

投稿タイプ：activities

Learn to make your own traditonal wagashi sweets with a professional confectioner (in Komyo-ji Temple)

Make your own seasonal Japanese confectionary (wagashi) amongst the beautiful Japanese maple trees of Komyo-ji Temple with the equipment and guidance of a professional confectioner.
Kikuharu is a long-standing wagashi shop in Nagaoka City, Kyoto Prefecture, and along with various other original sweets, it's known for creating a bamboo shoot-shaped sweet made with real bamboo shoot that's known as Nagaoka's "Takenoko Monaka (bamboo shoot wafer cake)" souvenir. Kikuharu's second generation master confectioner, Mr. Nishiyama Motofumi, now also teaches about the culture and customs of wagashi confectionary in this activity. Before you dive in to the world of wagashi, though, included in this experience is a guided tour of Komyo-ji Temple by a monk, who will tell the story of the temple's history, relevant historical figures, and the lesser-known stories about the Buddha statues within (such as the Amida Nyorai you first see), as well as show you the Mie-do Hall. After strolling around the temple and taking in the dry rock garden, it's time to make some wagashi! Afterwards, you're welcome to enjoy your wagashi here, or take them home.

投稿タイプ：sightseeing

Suntory Yamazaki Distillery

The Suntory Yamazaki Distillery is a Japanese whisky distillery in the Yamazaki District of Kyoto Prefecture, not far from Kyoto City and close to Uji—the region of Kyoto famous for matcha green tea—and the famous Otokuni Bamboo grove. The Yamazaki region has long been known for its pure and soft water, for which the distillery founder, Torii Shinjiro, chose this location in particular. Nestled between Mt. Tennozan and Mt. Otokoyama, close to the river's pure water, and in an ideal climate for whisky maturation, the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery is now known as the birthplace of Japanese whisky, and home to the internationally-renowned Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky. Today at the distillery there are whisky tastings and guided tours explaining the whisky-making process (tours are available in foreign languages), and the tour includes an exlusive blended whisky tasting (not for regular sale). At the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery there is also a whisky library, and a free-to-enter whisky museum where you can learn about the history of whisky in Japan. Visiting requires reservation up to a day in advance.

投稿タイプ：sightseeing

Nagaoka Tenmangu Shrine

Nagaoka Tenmangu is a shrine in Nagaokakyo City, Kyoto Prefecture, not far from Kyoto City and close to Uji—the region of Kyoto famous for matcha green tea—and the famous Otokuni Bamboo grove. Nagaoka-Tenmangu is also known as "Mikaeri-tenjin" (a shrine that's "hard-to-leave"), and was dedicated to Sugawara-no Michizane, a Japanese scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian era (794–1185). It is said that Michizane was posted to Dazaifu City (the military and administrative centre of Kyushu at the time), on his way to which he visited the location where the shrine currently stands, and was reluctant to leave. The entrance path to the main hall is lined with hedges of approximately 150-year-old Kirishima azalea trees, which bear distinctive dark red flowers which will be in full bloom beginning in late April, when they create an azalea tunnel. The Kirishima azaleas are also designated by Nagaokakyo City as a protected species. At Nagaoka Tenmangu Shrine there is beautiful scenery to be enjoyed all year round, from cherry blossoms in the spring, lotus flowers in the summer, and Autumn foliage light-up events illuminating Nagaoka Tenmangu Shrine's Japanese garden, Kinkei-en. Next to the Hachijoga-ike Pond there is also a restaurant, Kinsuitei, where you can enjoy the beautiful scenery together with cuisine made using freshly picked young bamboo shoots in the springtime, or other traditional Kyoto cuisine during other times of the year

投稿タイプ：sightseeing

Yanagidani Kannon (Yokoku-ji Temple)

Yanagidani Kannon (Yokokuji Temple) is located in Nagaokakyo City, not far from Kyoto City and close to the famous Otokuni Bamboo Grove, where the main attraction is the eleven-faced, thousand-armed statue of the bodhisattva Kannon statue. The temple is built on the side of a mountain, and the inner temple building and main hall are connected by a long corridor surrounded by a Kyoto-designated scenic garden, Jodo-en. On the second floor is the Kamishoin Study, which was once a designated study room for elites during the Meiji era (1868-1912). These days, the study room and its beautiful view of the gardens is open to the public. The Yokokuji Hydrangea Path is a famous place to enjoy hydrangeas and inludes over 4,500 hydrangea plants that bloom in June and in the summer months. In autumn, the deep red carpet of the Kamishoin Study and bright red autumn foliage creates an impressive sight, open for viewing only on the 17th of each month. It's also widely believed that there is holy water ("oko-zui") at Yokoku-ji Temple connected to the famous Buddhist monk Kukai, and that this water is thought to heal diseases of the eye.

投稿タイプ：sightseeing

Asahi Group Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art

The Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art consists of the main building, which was built between the 1910s and early 1930s, and two annexes—the Underground Jewelry Box (South Wing) and the Dream Box (North Wing), designed by architect Tadao Ando. The main building contains ceramics by Kanjiro Kawai and Bernard Leach, as well as craftworks which were born from the Japanese Mingei (folk crafts) Movement. Works by Claude Monet, including the Water Lilies series, are on exhibit in the Underground Jewelry Box. This is a museum where visitors can enjoy invaluable architecture, an exquisite garden, and beautiful works on exhibit.

投稿タイプ：sightseeing

Mukojinja Shrine

Located in Muko City in the Otokuni Bamboo Grove area of Kyoto Prefecture, Muko shrine is an ancient shrine founded in 718 and is said to be a shrine for good harvest, academic achievement, and traffic safety.
Originally, there were two shrines on Muko Mountain、and they were later combined into one shrine and given the name “Muko shrine” that it goes by today. The main shrine, built in 1422 (Oei 29), was built in the “Sangensha Nagare-zukuri” style (three-bay wide structure with a gable roof) and has been designated as a national important cultural property.
A gentle cobblestone slope extends from the entrance gate to the main shrine. In spring, cherry blossoms are in full bloom on both sides of the over 200m path and in fall the changing autumn leaves turn the path into a colorful tunnel of red and orange.
What’s more, in April every year the "Sakura Festival" is held with events such as flower arrangement exhibitions, koto and drum performances, and bonfires are lit at night to create a different way to experience the cherry blossom from the daytime. In addition, the "Fire Festival" is held in October where Gomagi wood is burned to pray for a disease-free life and happiness.

投稿タイプ：sightseeing

Komyo-ji Temple

Komyo-ji Temple was first built in 1198 by the soldier Kumagai Naozane in an area favored by his master Honen. Today, it the head temple of the Seizan sect of Pure Land Buddhism. Visitors can tour the temple itself and see the beautiful sights inside, as well as those of the garden. The temple has an excellent collection of Buddhist artwork and statues, which are on display to visitors. Inside the Mie Hall, the principal statue is papier-mâché, and it is said that Honen made it himself by dipping a letter from his mother in water.
When you enter the temple main gate, the road is divided into two. The gentle slope leading to the main hall on your right is called “Omotesando.” This approach is designed so that both women and the elderly can easily climb it and is known as the “women’s slope.” The road from “Chokushimon Gate” to “Somon Gate” on the left is commonly known as the "Maple Path," and in the fall the autumn leaves on both sides of the approach, which stretches for about 200 meters, make a brightly colored tunnel of fall colors. The path is one of the most famous spots for autumn leaves in Kyoto.