Kamigamo-jinja

photo by Yanajin33 · CC BY-SA 3.0

It opens at 5:30, before anything else in Kyoto, and costs nothing.

At half past five in the morning the second gate is already open and the gravel forecourt is empty: in it stand two cones of sand, the *tatesuna*, which reproduce the shape of the mountain behind the shrine. The grounds are free. To enter the shrine proper, however, you need the special visit, which costs ¥500 and starts only at ten.

Official name Kamo-wakeikazuchi-jinja. It is one of the two Kamo shrines, on the Nara stream north of the city, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

ℹ️ The grounds are free: the second gate opens at 5:30 and closes at 17:00, while the monumental gate and the amulet counter are open from 8:00 to 16:45. No closing day stated. The special visit to the main hall costs ¥500 per person, with admission from 10:00 to 16:00; the shrine warns that hours and fee change with the season. ⚠️ It is far from the railway: from Kitaōji and Kitayama metro stations it is twenty-five minutes on foot, and from Kyoto Station bus 4 takes a good half hour. The car park costs ¥200 per 30 minutes from 6:00 to 22:00; on peak days it switches to a flat rate of ¥1,000, with entry between 9:00 and 16:00 and exit by 17:00.

🚉 Kitayama · 24 min walk

Sources: kamigamojinja.jp · kamigamojinja.jp · kamigamojinja.jp

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