Shrines in Kyoto: 10 to Visit, From Fushimi Inari to Kibune

Shrines in Kyoto are easy to confuse with temples. Search “golden shrine kyoto” in the US and every one of the nine results we read on September 28, 2026 was the Golden Pavilion, a Buddhist temple. This guide lists ten Shinto shrines in Kyoto, from Fushimi Inari Taisha in the south to Kibune up a valley in the north. For each it gives the hours and fees the shrine itself publishes, then groups the ten into three half-days and shows how our classifier scored every one, point by point.

What Counts as a Shrine in Kyoto — and What Does Not

Shrines in Kyoto are Shinto jinja, sites with a torii gate and enshrined kami; the city’s Buddhist temples, however famous, are a separate institution.

A torii is the gate that marks a shrine’s entrance, and kami are the deities a shrine enshrines. The Kyoto Prefectural Association of Shinto Shrines states on its site that it covers about 1,570 shrines in the prefecture through 21 branches, with no date attached. The Agency for Cultural Affairs, in its Religious Yearbook, counts 1,757 religious corporations registered as shrines in Kyoto Prefecture as of December 31, 2024. The two figures count different things, so neither is “the number of shrines in Kyoto”.

Four of the names English lists attach to Kyoto are temples, and this site leaves them out: Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion), Ginkakuji, Kiyomizu-dera and Toji. The line matters in practice, because the conduct each side publishes differs, and our English guide to Japanese shrines draws it the same way across the site.

What you can check	Shinto shrine (jinja)	Buddhist temple (tera)
Who is enshrined	Kami. Kitano Tenmangu enshrines the scholar Sugawara Michizane; Kamigamo enshrines a thunder deity	A Buddhist image or hall, as at Kiyomizu-dera and Toji
Which body lists it	The prefectural association of shrines, about 1,570 in Kyoto Prefecture	Not in that listing; temples belong to Buddhist orders
Names mixed up in English lists	Fushimi Inari, Yasaka, Heian Jingu, Kitano: all shrines, all below	Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Kiyomizu-dera, Toji: all temples, none below

Ten Shrines in Kyoto at a Glance

The ten shrines fall into four areas: the south and Higashiyama, Okazaki, the north of the center, and the Kibune valley.

Access is each shrine’s own; hours are the grounds’ unless marked. The element column is our classification, explained further down.

Shrine	Area	Getting there (shrine’s own page)	Grounds hours	Element, score
Fushimi Inari Taisha	Fushimi	Next to JR Inari Station	No closing (Kyoto City listing)	Earth, 100
Yasaka Jinja	Higashiyama	Keihan Gion-Shijo, about 5 min	24 hours	Wind, 75
Heian Jingu	Okazaki	Subway Higashiyama Exit 1, 10 min	6:00 to 17:00–18:00 by season	Void, 100
Okazaki Shrine	Okazaki	City bus to Okazaki-jinja-mae	Not published	Wind, 60
Shimogamo Shrine	North	Keihan Demachiyanagi, 12 min	6:30–17:00 inside the gate	Water, 85
Kamigamo Shrine	North	City bus 4 from Kyoto Station	5:30–17:00	Wind, 60
Imamiya Shrine	North	City bus 46 to Imamiya-jinja-mae	Not published	Earth, 75
Kitano Tenmangu	North	City bus 50, about 35 min from Kyoto Station	7:00–17:00	Wind, 75
Seimei Shrine	North	Subway Imadegawa, about 12 min	9:00–17:00	Wind, 60
Kibune Shrine	Kibune valley	Kyoto Bus 33 to Kibune, 5 min	6:00–20:00 May–Nov	Water, 100

The ten are the shrines named in our US keyword data, among them Kitano, Seimei, Okazaki, Imamiya and Kamigamo, plus three we cover in full. Matsunoo Taisha, Yasui Konpiragu and Nonomiya are left out: nobody in our US keyword set searched for the first, and we could not confirm every deity from the other two’s own sites.

The Ten, Area by Area

Each shrine below gets its deities, founding date and the practical detail its own site publishes, grouped by area from south to north.

Fushimi and Higashiyama: Fushimi Inari Taisha and Yasaka Jinja

Fushimi Inari Taisha and Yasaka Jinja have no closing time, one by Kyoto City’s listing and one by its own page.

Fushimi Inari Taisha dates its deity to 711; its English page says the deity was “enshrined on the first Day of the Horse of the second month of 711.” It enshrines five deities led by Ukanomitama, the rice deity behind every Inari shrine, across a precinct its FAQ puts at about 870,000 square meters. The shrine sits next to JR Inari Station, two stops and five minutes from Kyoto Station. It publishes no hours; Kyoto City’s official tourism site lists no closing time and an amulet office open 8:00 to 18:00. Our guide to Fushimi Inari Taisha covers the mountain walk. Earth 100.

Yasaka Jinja enshrines Susanoo, his consort Kushinadahime and their eight children. Its English page gives two founding traditions, one that “may go back as far as 656” and one in 876. The grounds are open 24 hours and the office 9:00 to 17:00; a goshuin, a seal and calligraphy given as a record of a visit, is written into your book until 16:00 and handed over on paper after that. It is about five minutes from Keihan Gion-Shijo. Our guide to Yasaka Jinja covers Gion Matsuri. Wind 75.

Okazaki: Heian Jingu and Okazaki Shrine

Heian Jingu and Okazaki Shrine both stand in Okazaki, one founded in 1895 and the other dated by its own history to 794.

Heian Jingu was founded on March 15, 1895 and enshrines Emperor Kanmu, who moved the capital to Kyoto; Emperor Komei was enshrined beside him in 1940. The gates open at 6:00 and close at 18:00 from March to September, 17:30 in October and 17:00 from November to February. The garden behind the halls costs ¥600 for adults. The shrine is ten minutes from Higashiyama Station, Exit 1. Void 100, the only Void shrine of the ten.

Okazaki Shrine’s history page says it was built in 794, when the capital moved from Nagaoka, as one of the shrines set at the four directions to guard the city, and was called Higashi Tenno. It enshrines Haya-Susanoo, Kushinadahime and their eight children. Rabbits are its emblem: the shrine says the area was once home to wild rabbits, and that the prolific animal has long been held to be the deity’s messenger. A black granite rabbit sits at the temizuya, the basin where visitors rinse their hands, and the precinct page describes pouring water on it to pray for children. City buses 32, 93, 203 and 204 stop at Okazaki-jinja-mae. It publishes no hours. Wind 60.

North of the Center: Shimogamo, Kamigamo, Imamiya, Kitano and Seimei

Five shrines lie north of the center, including two of the three World Heritage shrines and the head shrine of about 12,000 Tenmangu.

Shimogamo Shrine enshrines Kamotaketsunumi and Tamayorihime. Its own history says the exact founding is unknown, but records a repair of its sacred fence in the seventh year of Emperor Sujin, 90 BCE. The grounds inside the tower gate open 6:30 to 17:00, and the Oidono, the shrine’s kitchen hall, costs ¥1,000 from 10:00 to 16:00. It is 12 minutes on foot from Demachiyanagi. Water 85. Our Shimogamo Shrine guide walks through its forest, festivals and routes from Kyoto Station.

Kamigamo Shrine enshrines one deity, Kamo-wakeikazuchi. By the shrine’s account, he descended in the age of the gods on Mount Koyama behind the main hall, and the shrine was built in 677. The gates open 5:30 to 17:00, the tower gate and office 8:00 to 16:45, and a special visit to the main hall, a National Treasure, costs ¥500 from 10:00 to 16:00. City bus 4 from Kyoto Station stops in front of it. Wind 60.

Imamiya Shrine’s own page dates its founding to 1001 and lists Onamuchi, Kotoshironushi and Kushinadahime in three seats, with Susanoo named first. Its Yasurai Matsuri falls on the second Sunday of April. City bus 46 stops at Imamiya-jinja-mae. Earth 75.

Kitano Tenmangu, the answer for “kitano kyoto”, was founded in 947 for Sugawara Michizane, the scholar-statesman, with his son and wife beside him. It calls itself the head of about 12,000 Tenmangu and Tenjin shrines. The gates open 7:00 to 17:00, and the grounds are free. Its plum garden holds about 1,500 trees of 50 kinds, and the plum festival falls on February 25. City bus 50 takes about 35 minutes from Kyoto Station. Wind 75.

Seimei Shrine enshrines Abe no Seimei. Its history says it was built in 1007 by order of Emperor Ichijo, on the site of Seimei’s residence. It opens 9:00 to 17:00 with no admission fee, the office to 16:30, and it is about 12 minutes from Imadegawa Station. The Ichijo Modoribashi bridge lies 100 meters south. Wind 60.

Up the Mountain: Kibune Shrine

Kibune Shrine sits up a river valley in the north, is free to enter, and needs a train and a bus from central Kyoto.

It enshrines Takaokami, a water deity, at the main shrine, and is visited as three: Hongu, Yuishiya and Okumiya. By its English page, the main shrine opens 6:00 to 20:00 from May 1 to November 30 and is “Open all year free of charge”; its visitor guide gives 18:00 as the winter closing. The route is the Eizan line to Kibuneguchi, then Kyoto Bus 33 to Kibune and a five-minute walk. Our guide to Kibune Shrine covers the three shrines and the fares. Water 100.

Kyoto’s Red Gates: Which One You Are Looking For

In all nine US results we read for “kyoto red gate”, the red gates were Fushimi Inari’s torii, around 10,000 by the shrine’s count. Heian Jingu’s single great torii is another red gate in Kyoto.

The shrine’s English FAQ says “there are around 10,000 torii gateways of all sizes along the mountain paths.” “Senbon Torii”, thousand torii, is the name of the densest stretch, not a count. Heian Jingu’s great torii is one structure: the shrine says it was built on March 25, 1929 and was the largest in Japan when new, and it is a registered tangible cultural property of Japan. Neither the shrine nor Kyoto City publishes its height, so we give none.

	Fushimi Inari’s torii	Heian Jingu’s great torii
What it is	Rows of gates along the mountain paths	One gate on the approach
How many	Around 10,000, by the shrine	One
When	Added over time; the shrine dates its deity to 711	Built March 25, 1929
Status	Part of an active shrine’s precinct	Registered tangible cultural property
Height published	No single figure	Not published by the shrine or Kyoto City

“Gate kyoto” splits two ways: in the US results we read, five of nine were a hotel with “Gate” in its name. That hotel is THE GATE HOTEL Kyoto Takasegawa, which this shrine guide does not cover, so search its full name if it is what you want. The shrine answer is the pair above. If the photo you saw shows a tunnel of vermilion posts climbing a hill, it is Fushimi Inari.

In What Order: Three Half-Days

Three half-days cover the ten: an east loop from Fushimi Inari to Okazaki, a north loop, and Kibune on its own.

The order follows the published hours, earliest opening first. Kyoto City counted 62.79 million visitors in 2025, 8.09 million of them foreign overnight guests, but the city publishes no counts for single shrines, so this order rests on opening hours, not on crowd data.

• East: Fushimi Inari first, since it has no closing time and its amulet office opens at 8:00; then Yasaka, open around the clock; then Okazaki Shrine and Heian Jingu, whose gates close between 17:00 and 18:00.
• North: Kamigamo opens at 5:30 and Shimogamo at 6:30; then Imamiya, Kitano, which closes at 17:00, and Seimei, 9:00 to 17:00.
• Kibune: a half-day by itself, with the train and bus each way; in winter the main shrine closes at 18:00.

City buses charge a flat ¥230 per ride, and the subway and bus one-day pass costs ¥1,100 for adults. The bus-only one-day pass stopped selling on September 30, 2023. Kyoto City plans a higher bus fare for non-residents, but its transport bureau says it will take effect in fiscal 2027, not before.

Five Elements Classification: The Score Sheet — and Kyoto’s Missing Fire

Five of the ten score as Wind, two Earth, two Water, one Void and none Fire, and every point shows where it came from.

This is Kannavi’s own classification, not a teaching of any shrine and not a fortune. The classifier reads four layers: a main deity is worth 60, each co-enshrined deity 15, the terrain 15 or 25, the lineage 15. Confidence is high when the leading element clears the rest, medium when a second sits close behind. We ran each shrine’s deities as its own site lists them.

Shrine	Element	Score	Confidence	What produced the points
Fushimi Inari Taisha	Earth	100	high	Ukanomitama, rice and food +60; mountain +25; Inari lineage +15
Yasaka Jinja	Wind	75	high	Susanoo, storm +60; Yasaka lineage +15; city site +15 Earth
Heian Jingu	Void	100	high	Emperor Kanmu, founder of the capital +60; Emperor Komei +15; wide precinct +25
Okazaki Shrine	Wind	60	medium	Haya-Susanoo +60; no terrain in our database
Shimogamo Shrine	Water	85	high	Tamayorihime, sea and water +60; riverside +25
Kamigamo Shrine	Wind	60	medium	Kamo-wakeikazuchi, thunder +60; riverside +25 Water
Imamiya Shrine	Earth	75	high	Onamuchi, land +60; city site +15; Susanoo +15 Wind
Kitano Tenmangu	Wind	75	high	Sugawara Michizane, thunder +60; Tenmangu lineage +15; riverside +25 Water
Seimei Shrine	Wind	60	medium	Abe no Seimei, a man of learning +60; city site +15 Earth
Kibune Shrine	Water	100	high	Takaokami, water and rain; see our Kibune guide for the full sheet

Three rows need disclosure. Shimogamo’s site writes the goddess as Tamayorihime with a variant character that our dictionary did not match, which left the shrine undetermined; the two characters write the same name, so we matched the standard form. Its other deity, Kamotaketsunumi, is not in our dictionary and adds nothing. Imamiya’s page lists three seats and names Susanoo first without a seat; the classifier takes one main deity, so we used the center seat, Onamuchi. Read Susanoo as the main deity instead and Imamiya becomes Wind 60, medium. Okazaki Shrine is missing from our Kyoto database, so it has no terrain; adding plain or hill leaves it at Wind 60.

The ring runs Earth, Fire, Void, Water, Wind and back to Earth, each element shifting the flow of the next; it is not a chart of good and bad pairings. Among these ten, Fire is empty. In the 30 Kyoto shrines of our seed database, values not yet checked against each shrine’s site, nine lead with Fire, among them Toyokuni Shrine, Kenkun Shrine and Hirano Shrine. A visitor after all five elements in one city needs one of those, or our Tokyo list, where two shrines score as Fire.

Hours, Fees and Goshuin: What the Shrines Actually Publish

Only three of the ten publish a goshuin price, and three give no hours for their grounds on their own sites.

Shrine	Grounds hours on its own site	Paid area	Goshuin price on its own site
Fushimi Inari Taisha	Not published	None	Not published
Yasaka Jinja	24 hours	None	¥500 handwritten; ¥300 for the other version it lists
Heian Jingu	6:00 to 17:00–18:00	Garden, ¥600	¥500
Okazaki Shrine	Not published	None	Not published
Shimogamo Shrine	6:30–17:00	Oidono, ¥1,000	Not published
Kamigamo Shrine	5:30–17:00	Main hall visit, ¥500	Not published
Imamiya Shrine	Not published	None	¥300 to ¥1,500, in a 2018 notice
Kitano Tenmangu	7:00–17:00	Plum garden, in season	Not published
Seimei Shrine	9:00–17:00	None	Not published
Kibune Shrine	6:00–20:00 (May–Nov)	None	Not published

Yasaka’s prices are on its list of offerings. Where a shrine prints no figure, we give none; our guide to goshuin explains what the seal is and how to ask for one.

Festival	Shrine	Date, by the shrine
Plum festival (Baikasai)	Kitano Tenmangu	February 25
Yasurai Matsuri	Imamiya Shrine	Second Sunday of April
Aoi Matsuri	Shimogamo and Kamigamo	May 15; the procession reaches Kamigamo around 15:30
Gion Matsuri	Yasaka Jinja	July 1–31; portable shrine processions July 17 and 24
Jidai Matsuri	Heian Jingu	October 22, postponed if it rains

Conduct at the hall is left to one source. Jinja Honcho’s English page gives it in three lines: “Bow deeply, twice.” Then “Clap twice to show respect.” Then “Bow deeply once.”

Frequently Asked Questions

The seven questions below cover famous and oldest shrines, the golden shrine, rabbits and foxes, counts, love shrines and World Heritage status. Answers draw on each shrine’s own pages and the public sources linked above, unless another source is named.

Q. What is the most famous shrine in Kyoto?

A. No ranking with a traceable source exists, because no public body counts visitors shrine by shrine. The National Police Agency stopped publishing New Year crowd counts after 2009. What can be measured is how lists treat them: of the five US list pages we read on September 28, 2026, Fushimi Inari and Yasaka each appeared in four.

Q. What is the oldest shrine in Kyoto?

A. It depends on whether you count stated years or tradition, and the shrines themselves draw that line differently. Shimogamo says its founding is unknown but records a fence repair in 90 BCE. Kamigamo places its deity’s descent in the age of the gods and its shrine in 677. Fushimi Inari dates its deity to 711.

Q. What is the golden shrine in Kyoto?

A. The “golden shrine” people search for is Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, which is a Buddhist temple and not a shrine. All nine US results we read for the phrase were the temple, which Kyoto City’s tourism site says was converted into a Zen temple after its builder’s death. This site covers Shinto shrines only, so it gives the temple no guide of its own.

Q. Which Kyoto shrine has rabbits, and which has foxes?

A. Okazaki Shrine has the rabbits, and Fushimi Inari Taisha has the foxes, each for a reason its own shrine gives. Okazaki says rabbits have long been held to be its deity’s messengers, and a black granite rabbit sits at its water basin. The foxes of Fushimi Inari are covered in our guide to Fushimi Inari Taisha.

Q. How many shrines are there in Kyoto?

A. There are two published figures, and they count different things, so neither is a full census of Kyoto’s shrines. The prefectural association of shrines says it covers about 1,570, with no date. The Religious Yearbook counts 1,757 religious corporations registered as shrines in Kyoto Prefecture as of December 31, 2024. The same table lists 1,760 shrine religious bodies, three more, because that column also counts groups without corporate status.

Q. Is there a love shrine in Kyoto?

A. The one most English lists name, Jishu Shrine, is closed for now, so check before you plan around it. Its own site says it is closed for construction with no reopening date. Kibune’s Yuishiya is the shrine for a good match, and Yasui Konpiragu’s stone for cutting and forming ties stands 1.5 meters high and 3 meters wide.

Q. Which shrines in Kyoto are World Heritage Sites?

A. Three shrines are among the 17 properties of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, inscribed in December 1994. Kyoto City’s list names Kamigamo, Shimogamo and Ujigami. The first two appear above; Ujigami Shrine stands in Uji, south of the city.

Summary

Ten shrines in four areas, three half-days built on published hours, and one element none of them leads with.

• Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Kiyomizu-dera and Toji are temples; every place above is a jinja.
• Kyoto’s red gates are Fushimi Inari’s torii, around 10,000 by the shrine, and Heian Jingu’s single great torii of 1929.
• East half-day: Fushimi Inari, Yasaka, Okazaki, Heian Jingu. North: Kamigamo, Shimogamo, Imamiya, Kitano, Seimei. Kibune on its own.
• Only Yasaka, Heian Jingu and Imamiya publish a goshuin price, Imamiya’s from 2018.
• In the Kannavi classification, five of the ten score as Wind and none as Fire, with the layer behind every point shown.

Next: read our guides to Fushimi Inari Taisha, Yasaka Jinja and Kibune Shrine, compare the shrines in Tokyo, or return to the English guide to Japanese shrines.

Kyoto was laid out in 794 with shrines at its four directions, and one of them still keeps rabbits. Kinkakuji and Kiyomizu-dera are temples, but the calendar of its streets, from the plum festival in February to the procession in October, is still set by its shrines.