Kyoto in One Day: Hokan-ji Temple — Guide Satoko

Title: Can You Do a Private Day Tour of Kyoto's Temples? A Licensed Guide's Report on Hokan-ji, Kennin-ji, and Nanzen-ji

Originally, the guests had requested a full itinerary of Hokan-ji, Kennin-ji, Nanzen-ji, and Ginkaku-ji. Since the places they chose were all rather refined and unusual choices, I had imagined the guests to be quite different from how they turned out to be. When I arrived at the meeting point, the guests were already waiting for me, and I was quite surprised. They told me, "We went to Ginkaku-ji yesterday, so we don't need to go today." Since that freed up some time, I suggested we could use public transportation, but the guests said they would arrange a taxi via a ride app, so we headed to the first destination by taxi.

At Hokan-ji, the plan had been just to photograph it from the outside, but one of the guests said they wanted to climb the five-story pagoda. Since I usually only photograph it from the outside myself, I happily climbed it together with the guests. We then walked through Ninenzaka and Ichinenzaka, where they gladly took photos of the scenery. Next we went to Yasui Konpiragu Shrine. I once told a story from a previous tour, where I had taken some guests there simply because it is an interesting concept I wanted to introduce, and one of them scolded me, saying, "Are you trying to make me break up with my partner!" When I shared this, one of the guests laughed and said, "Maybe there really was something going on?"

Next, since Kennin-ji was on the list, we started to enter, but one of the guests said, "We passed through here yesterday, so it's fine." I explained that we could also go inside the buildings, and they agreed once, but the group was overwhelmed by the number of people waiting in line and decided not to go in. So I introduced the Sanmon gate and we passed by. Then one of the guests said, "We couldn't pray at Zenkyoan next door yesterday, so I'd like to go," and so we decided to stop there. One of the guests bought a miniature boar and placed it by the large boar statue. Since we had skipped Kennin-ji, I wondered what to do and thought about stopping by the geisha district, but the guests said, "We experienced geisha entertainment yesterday, so it's fine," so I introduced Ebisu Shrine instead. One of the guests tried tossing a coin into the basket held by the Ebisu figure on the torii, and after a few tries succeeded, drawing cheers from the people around.

As it was around lunchtime, I suggested we have lunch in this area before heading to Nanzen-ji, and the guests agreed. I had intended to have a quick meal like noodles, but when I asked the guests what they would like to eat, one said sushi and the other said beef. I thought of a sushi restaurant in Shinbashi for sushi, and a wagyu restaurant near Sanjo Ohashi for beef, so we started walking in that direction. However, the sushi restaurant only opened in the evening. One of the guests looked up restaurants that were open and we tried several places, but several were crowded and turned us away. When it seemed like there was nothing left, I mentioned that there was a restaurant floor at the Hankyu Kawaramachi complex or at the department store, and we started walking that way. Along the way, they found a Korean restaurant and said it was fine, so we ended up having Korean food for lunch in Japan. I had always felt that "when you come to Gion, there are places to eat here and there," and since I usually just have noodles during tours to save time, I hadn't paid much attention to where we would eat. As a result, I couldn't suggest a good place on the spot and made them walk more than necessary, which I felt bad about. I intend to make use of this experience next time.

At that Korean restaurant, it turned out that one of the guests had a wheat allergy. (This is not an excuse, but I had not received any advance information.) Given that, I was glad I hadn't carelessly suggested noodles. Regaining my composure, we decided to head to Nanzen-ji by taxi. At Nanzen-ji, as expected, the guests wished to climb the Sanmon gate. One of the guests, who works restoring historical stone structures, said they were used to high places. Another joked, "Since I'm tall, maybe I'm more likely to fall?" Next I guided them to the Hatto (Dharma hall), and one of the guests asked, from the topic of "Is Zen Buddhism the religion with the most followers in Japan?", the question "What do Shinto followers believe happens when a person dies?" I told them, "I have a friend who practices Shinto, and their family member said that when you die, you become a kami," and the guests seemed convinced. Since they very much wanted to see the rock garden, we decided to enter the Hojo. Next I guided them to the Suirokaku aqueduct, and just when I thought that concluded the Nanzen-ji tour, it turned out they had researched the garden of Tenju-an in advance, so we decided to enter Tenju-an. In fact, I had never been inside Tenju-an myself, and I was moved by the beauty of the garden reflected through the glass. Afterward, I also suggested walking back past Konchi-in, but the guests said, "We've walked enough already," so we parted ways in front of the Nanzen-ji gate.

Click here for more details: Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with Licensed Guide

Tour Report by Satoko

I am a 53-year-old woman, living in Kyoto for nearly 40 years. I got the license in 2001. Since then, I worked as an interpreter or a translator in several companies, secretary at universities, and now work for a company on weekdays at the international dept.I do guiding job only weekend now. I started full swing guiding career after COVID-19 pandemic. I have gotten good review from many of my guests. I love my hometown, Kyoto which has a lot of interesting and historical sites to see. Particularly, I am native to Arashiyama which is famous for bamboo forest. So, I know a lot of places where you can relax yourself around this area. Other than that, Kyoto has many attractive sites which surely interest you.Also, I like meeting many people from different cultural background. I am very happy if I learn about your culture as well. Let’s enjoy exploring around Kyoto!