Originally constructed in 1397 Kinkakuji, the renowned ‘Golden Temple’ was originally built as a villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. In 1950, a young trainee monk who was obsessed by the temple burnt it down, a story retold in Yukio Mishima’s The Golden Pavilion. The temple was rebuilt in 1955 according to the original design. Kinkakuji is a renowned tourist drawcard but despite the crowds the magnificence of this shining temple is undeniable.

Founded in 1450 Ryōanji is a Rinzai Sect Zen temple world famous for its sparse stone garden of fifteen rocks set in a fastidiously racked gravel bed. The tranquillity felt whilst viewing this garden, despite the large number of tourists, is enhanced by its being enclosed by a traditional Japanese mud-rendered wall which, through its antiquity, enhances the Zen concept of aged beauty.

One of the four national museums Kyoto National Museum, built in 1895, stages some of Japan’s most significant exhibitions of Japanese art which draw huge crowds of art lovers. In 2006 the illustrated hand scrolls exhibition had crowds waiting for up to three and a half hours.

Fortunately, we will be able to enjoy minimal crowds in other sections of the museum where up to 4,600 objects are housed, many of them national treasures. Across the street from the Kyoto National Museum is Sanjūsangendō, a temple built in 1164 that exhibits a breathtaking display of 1001 gilded statues of the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kannon.

Recently profiled in the novel and movie Diary of a Geisha the picturesque district of Gion with its winding streets lined with traditional Japanese houses is an ideal area to wander whilst absorbing a sense of history.

The Gion entertainment quarter is famous for its geisha.