Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Kazu

What Is a Half-Day Private Kyoto Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were visitors from North America, who had traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto this morning, so the tour began in the afternoon. Everyone walked energetically throughout the day. At Genbu Shrine, which enshrines the turtle "Genbu," one of the symbolic guardian deities representing Kyoto's four-direction cosmology, there were many visitors, perhaps because it was the Year of the Snake. One disappointing point today was at Kinkaku-ji Temple, where a goshuin (temple seal) could only be brushed by hand directly into an official goshuin book. One of the guests had a small notebook (with an elegant cover comparable to a proper goshuin book), so they received a pre-written goshuin instead. I felt it was not ideal that the difference between those who could have it written in front of them and those who could not was so clearly visible. At other temples (Kiyomizu-dera) and shrines (Yasui Konpira-gu), it was written by hand directly. If the concern is ink bleeding through to the back, simply inserting a sheet of paper in between would solve the problem. After guiding the group through Gion, they seemed to be getting hungry and expressed a wish to have dinner on their own, so we finished 30 minutes early. The photo was taken at Tatsumi Inari Shrine in Gion.

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Tour Report by KAZU

I was born and grew up in Kyoto and now live near Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. I used to be a schoolteacher of English and welcome a lot of students from foreign countries. I really enjoyed showing them around Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Himeji, and Hiroshima. I have been a professional tour guide for about 8 years. I always try to let my guests learn Japanese traditional and modern culture. Since I was born in Kyoto, I know a lot about its culture and people. I myself enjoyed several sports, such as soccer, judo, and marathon when I was young. I’m much interested in baseball and sumo. My motto as a tour guide is to let my guests learn about our tradition and culture precisely and really enjoy themselves. I strongly hope you will enjoy the tour in Japan with me.