Sacred Kyoto: Temple Guide

At Fushimi Inari, every gate was donated, and the giver’s name and a date are painted on the back. You see them on the way down. This is what you can learn with Sacred Kyoto, a pocket guide to the temples and shrines of Kyoto. Most people see Kyoto once. Sacred Kyoto tells you what not to miss. READ OR LISTEN Read and Listen sit side by side on every guide. The written guide is laid out for reading. Each guide’s audio is one voice over music. It’s the same visit, with the same facts, told once for a reader and once for a listener. Each guide tells the story of the place, shows you what to look for on the spot and shares a few surprising details. WORKS IN AIRPLANE MODE Once a guide is on your phone, it works in airplane mode, on the train out to Arashiyama or at the temple gate. DISCOVER TEMPLES AND SHRINES AROUND YOU The map shows every temple and shrine in the app, and your own position when you allow it. WHAT YOU’D WALK PAST Each guide is built around one surprising detail. At Kinkaku-ji, look at the pond first: the mirror pond holds a second Golden Pavilion. At Kiyomizu-dera, the Otowa spring falls in three streams, and it is said you drink from just one. THE SITES Guides include Fushimi Inari, Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, Ryōan-ji, Ginkaku-ji, Tenryū-ji and Arashiyama, Nanzen-ji, Sanjūsangen-dō, Yasaka-jinja, Heian-jingū, Tō-ji, Tōfuku-ji, Chion-in, Eikan-dō, Ninna-ji, Shimogamo-jinja, Daigo-ji, Kitano Tenmangū, Kamigamo Jinja and Kurama-dera. The map draws its streets when you have a connection. Guides are in English.