Hilma

Where Hilma would send you

1. 1 Kamigyo Ward Attraction Aug 27
   Kamigyo Ward

   I started in Kamigyo Ward, the old northern edge of the city, where Kyoto peters out into residential streets too narrow for cars.

2. 2 Sugawara-in Tenmangu Shrine Attraction Aug 27
   Sugawara-in Tenmangu Shrine

   I found Sugawara-in Tenmangu Shrine by accident — a small, elegant shrine behind a residential street, dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, the Heian-era scholar who became the god of learning.

3. 3 Shimogamo Shrine Attraction Aug 27
   Shimogamo Shrine

   At Shimogamo Shrine, I found Tadasu no Mori — the 'Forest of Truth' — an ancient woodland that has stood here since the shrine was founded, over a thousand years ago.

4. 4 Tadasu no Mori Attraction Aug 27
   Tadasu no Mori

   At Shimogamo Shrine, I found Tadasu no Mori — the 'Forest of Truth' — an ancient woodland that has stood here since the shrine was founded, over a thousand years ago.

5. 5 Fushimi Attraction Aug 27
   Fushimi

   In the afternoon I took the train south to Fushimi, a district that feels like a different city — slower, built along canals, dominated by the sake breweries that have used its soft, mineral-rich water since the 17th century.

6. 6 Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum Attraction Aug 27
   Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum

   At Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum (housed in a century-old brewery), I learned that Fushimi's water comes from the same aquifer that feeds the lake at Tenryu-ji — the mountain water travels underground for decades before surfacing here.

7. 7 Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Attraction Aug 27
   Otagi Nenbutsu-ji

   I finished the day back in the hills, at Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, far west beyond Arashiyama.

8. 8 Nishijin Textile Center Attraction Aug 27
   Nishijin Textile Center

   Nishijin Textile Center is the official face of the Nishijin-ori weaving tradition, but the real thing happens in the backstreet workshops where looms still clatter behind open doors — particularly along the streets west of Horikawa-dori.