Wooden teahouses with bamboo blinds, a willow-lined canal and a shrine of a thousand lanterns. Kyoto's geisha district is best at dusk, and best walked quietly.
Gion grew up around the gate of Yasaka shrine as a place of teahouses for pilgrims, and became the most famous of Kyoto's hanamachi, the districts where geiko (Kyoto's geisha) and apprentice maiko work.
Hanamikoji is the main street: stone paving, dark wooden ochaya teahouses with bamboo screens, and paper lanterns lit at dusk. These are private businesses, entered by invitation, not shops.
North of Shijo-dori, the Shirakawa canal runs between willows and the backs of restaurants, crossed by the little Tatsumi bridge. In early April the cherry trees here are among the loveliest in the city.
Around 6pm you may see a maiko hurrying to an appointment. She is going to work. Let her pass, don't block the way, and don't follow her for a photograph.
A slow loop as the lanterns come on.
Start by the Tatsumi bridge and the tiny Tatsumi shrine, then follow the canal under the willows.
Cross Shijo-dori by the old Ichiriki teahouse, with its red walls, and turn south.
Walk the length of Hanamikoji as the lanterns come on. Stay on the main street; the side lanes are private.
At the southern end, the grounds of Kennin-ji, founded in 1202, are quiet in the evening (the halls close in the afternoon).
Loop back east to Yasaka shrine, where hundreds of paper lanterns glow around the dance stage, then into Maruyama park.
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Gion-Shijo station on the Keihan line, or Kyoto-Kawaramachi on the Hankyu line across the river.
Gion Corner, near the end of Hanamikoji, runs a short evening sampler of tea ceremony, music and kyomai dance. Spring dances are held in April.
Never touch, stop or photograph a geiko or maiko without asking. Treat Hanamikoji as a neighbourhood, not a stage set.
Kyoto practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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