GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
GoWithGuide
GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
Kyoto Private Tour - tea house in Josyoji Temple
tea house in Josyoji Temple
Kyoto Private Tour - window of enlightenment and confusion
window of enlightenment and confusion
Kyoto Private Tour - incomplete round window
incomplete round window
Kyoto Private Tour - main gate of Genkoan Temple
main gate of Genkoan Temple
Kyoto Private Tour - townscape in Takagamine area
townscape in Takagamine area
Kyoto Private Tour - entrance of Koetsuji Temple
entrance of Koetsuji Temple
Kyoto Private Tour - Yoshino-mon gate
Yoshino-mon gate
Kyoto Private Tour - 3 peaks of Mt.Takagamine
3 peaks of Mt.Takagamine
Kyoto Private Tour - Koetsu-gaki fence
Koetsu-gaki fence
Kyoto Private Tour - God of Wind painted by Rinpa
God of Wind painted by Rinpa

Window Hopping at Old Artist Village in Kyoto

Art, Culture, & Historical
Kyoto Tour Guide - Yosshi S.

Joined 2024

Yosshi S.
Identity Verified
Interview-Based Quality Checks
GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!Kyoto
GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!English, Japanese (Native)
GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!5 hours 30 min
GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!Private tour (only you and Yosshi S.)
GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!Up to 5 people

Trace the source of unique Japanese Painting and Zen Enlightenment amid the three peaks of Mt.Takagamine. A multi-talented artist built an artist village with his clan and artisans 400 years ago. He formed a painting technique with a gold foil and bold composition. The school was named Rinpa later. The tour goes around the former artist’s residence, and neighboring temples with different-shaped windows for becoming enlightenment: perfect round, incomplete round, and square.

Itinerary

This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!

12:30 PM

Meeting Point

At your hotel or any convenient place in Kyoto City center.

Takagamine-Koetu Area

>Takagamine Genkoan-mae bus stop

Koetsuji Temple

>Koetsuji Temple/former annex of artist’s residence was converted into the temple and named after the artist's namesake.

#4 tea houses, fence(Koetsu-gaki) made of crisscrossed bamboo, panoramic view overlooking the three peaks

Genkoan Temple & Josyoji Temple

>Genkoan Temple/Zen sect temple with round window (window of enlightenment) and square window (window of confusion) in the main hall

>Josyoji Temple/The temple was in connection with Yoshino Tayu who embraced the founder of the temple

#Yoshino-mon gate donated by Yoshino Tayu, tea house with incomplete round-shaped window

*Yoshino Tayu: high-ranking entertainer with incomparable beauty and intelligence in Shimabara leisure district in the 17th century

Ending Point

At your hotel or any convenient place in Kyoto City center

Want to personalize this tour?

This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.

Inclusions & Exclusions

GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
What‘s included

>guide fee, hotel pick up in Kyoto City center

GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
What‘s not included

>transportation fee (you and guide)/bus and/or train (some 2000 JPY/person, T.B.D.)

>admission fee (you and guide)/

Koetsuji Temple (400/500 JPY, varies by season),

Genkoan Temple (400/500 JPY, varies by season),

Josyoji Temple (400 JPY)

>short break/lunch /dinner

Tour Important Information

>Please wear comfortable shoes for walking


>The above extra fees are often asked with CASH on the spots, so please bring some JPY

>This tour is not covered by insurance

Important message from the supplier

GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!

>I can work only during the day, from about 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.

> If you want a customized tour, please message me in advance. I will confirm facility availability in the itinerary dates: opening dates/hours, need a reservation or not.

>Please note that my tours are leisurely, on foot and by public transport


Cancellation Policy

  • GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
    Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
  • GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
    50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
  • GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
    No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Kyoto Tour Guide - Yosshi S.

Joined 2024

Yosshi S.
Identity Verified
Interview-Based Quality Checks

About Tour Guide Yosshi S.

Thank you for visiting my page.

I will guide you to the ancient capital cities with 1000 years of urban development and 100 years of filming and screening history.

I grew up in Osaka, studied in Kyoto, and worked for 20 years as an urban planning expert for the national and local governments. During this time, I surveyed many community development sites throughout Japan. I welcomed business leaders to encourage investment in the cities.

After quitting my career, I became a film-loving professional engineer. I visited unique cities in foreign countries to see urban planning and locations that appeared in picturesque film scenes and posted photos on social media (90 cities in 30 countries up to now). The more I saw foreign cities, the more I loved my hometown. I wanted to know about the travel industry and got a national license as a Guide-Interpreter and Travel Service Manager. I have started guiding based in the old capital cities.

The entire area of old Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara has been a Metropolitan area centered on the Imperial Palace, and the actual location of the Palace has changed 15 times since the 7th century. This area has many historical spots and hidden attractions in different times and places: the townscape, temples, shrines, landscaped gardens, and historical drama locations (SAMURAI drama).

I will create your favorite tour using my list, and guide you leisurely. I look forward to hearing from you.



Want to Personalize?

$207/ per group

More tours by Yosshi S.

Spiritual Tour in Temple Town, Osakacover image

Spiritual Tour in Temple Town, Osaka

Osaka
5 hours 30 min

Visit an image of paradise in this world and the afterlife. Osaka began around the 7th century when the Imperial Palace and the Temple were built on the hill. In the Middle Ages, aristocrats believed that the paradise (Pure Land of Buddha) of the afterlife was beyond the setting sun, and built hermitages for Sunset Meditation. Time passed, and merchants enjoyed the performing arts in a paradise-like entertainment zone below the hill. Movie Palace was also built, and the slopes became locations.

FROM$187/ per group
Mixed Scenery with Towns and Temples, Naracover image

Mixed Scenery with Towns and Temples, Nara

Nara
5 hours 30 min

Enjoy the beauty of the temples in rural scenery and old townscapes. Ikaruga is Japan's oldest temple town, dating back to the 7th century. Even today, the pagodas from that time rise and create a beautiful rural landscape surrounded by mountains. Naramachi is within the grounds of a temple built near the Imperial Palace in the 8th century. Commercial and industrial houses lined its grounds from the Middle Ages, and the temples blended into the traditional townscape.

FROM$207/ per group
Short Hike in a Peaceful Temple and Forest in Eastern Kyotocover image

Short Hike in a Peaceful Temple and Forest in Eastern Kyoto

Kyoto
5 hours 30 min

Experience the charm of tranquility in a mountain temple. Seikanji is a temple in Mt. Kiyomizu (242m high), which enables us to look down a fan-shaped view of the Kyoto area from the temple grounds covered with green moss. The temple retains such anecdotes as the emperor’s tragic love and the Waka poem composed by the incarnation of Buddha. We hike along a path at the mountain's edge from the less crowded tiny Seikanji temple to the heavily crowded huge Kiyomizu-Dera temple.

FROM$207/ per group
Experience the Birth and Growth of Osakacover image

Experience the Birth and Growth of Osaka

Osaka
5 hours 30 min

Visit the temple and castle on the hill. Osaka began around the 7th century when the Shitennoji Temple was built on the hill. In the Middle Ages, aristocrats believed that the paradise (Pure Land of Buddha) of the afterlife was beyond the setting sun, and Shitennoji Temple was regarded as the east gate of the paradise. Osaka Castle and large-scale Castletown were built 1000 years later. Osaka Castle and Castle Park with cherry blossoms have been popular with locals and tourists.

FROM$187/ per group

Other Popular Art, Culture, & Historical Tours in Kyoto

Short Hike in a Peaceful Temple and Forest in Eastern Kyotocover image

Short Hike in a Peaceful Temple and Forest in Eastern Kyoto

Kyoto
5 hours 30 min

Experience the charm of tranquility in a mountain temple. Seikanji is a temple in Mt. Kiyomizu (242m high), which enables us to look down a fan-shaped view of the Kyoto area from the temple grounds covered with green moss. The temple retains such anecdotes as the emperor’s tragic love and the Waka poem composed by the incarnation of Buddha. We hike along a path at the mountain's edge from the less crowded tiny Seikanji temple to the heavily crowded huge Kiyomizu-Dera temple.

FROM$207/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Yosshi S.
Yosshi S.
Zen temples with beautiful gardens, Fushimi Inari and Bamboo Forestcover image

Zen temples with beautiful gardens, Fushimi Inari and Bamboo Forest

Kyoto
8 hours

There are a lot of Buddhism temples and Shinto Shrines in Kyoto. This tour focuses on three UNESCO World Heritage temples with beautiful gardens, Fushimi Inari Shrine which is famous for a lot of red Torii gates and Bamboo Forest in Arashiyma to feel the profundity of Kyoto. If you are interested in the places which are not listed here, like Nijo Castle, Kyoto Imperial Palace, Gion, Nishiki Market, Sanjusangen-do, Kiyomizu-dera and others, just let me know, I will customize a tour for you.

FROM$300/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Hiroyuki T.
Hiroyuki T.
4.97 / 5
(164 reviews)
Fully customizable your own private tour in Kyotocover image

Fully customizable your own private tour in Kyoto

Kyoto
8 hours

There are so many great places in Kyoto that you probably want to visit but perhaps not enough time. Also, Kyoto is getting very crowded due to a lot of foreigners visiting there. It is best to have a local person guiding you to come up with a plan that suits your preference. I can create a tour with you which includes not only popular places like the Golden Pavilion and Fushimi Inari but small temples with Wabi Sabi such as those in Sagano and the oldest Japanese sweet shop in Murasakino.

FROM$347/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Nori I.
Nori I.
5.00 / 5
(45 reviews)
Fushimi Inari Shrine, Zen Meditation, Sake brewery visiting and tastingcover image

Fushimi Inari Shrine, Zen Meditation, Sake brewery visiting and tasting

Kyoto
8 hours

Fushimi Inari Shrine is a must-see in Kyoto. This tour also includes Zen meditation at a Buddhist temple and a visit to a sake brewery. You'll have an unforgettable experience! ※Please message me before your payment. I need to confirm the availability of the Zen meditation and sake brewery visit in advance.

FROM$300/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Wendy Z.
Wendy Z.