I spent 6 nights in Kyoto. Below is the Kamo River on the right, a hike and bike trail in the middle, and a waterway (storm drain?) on the left.
Most Japanese neighborhood playgrounds have gravel or dirt ground and one or two old play equipment like in the first photo. The second photo has a Kyoto neighborhood playground fancier than the ones in the smaller towns.
Rating: A A medium sized, pretty garden.
Most of the gardens I visited had staff actively maintaining the garden while I visited, including castles grounds. I saw them trimming trees and bushes, pulling weeds, picking up fallen debris, taking care of the moss, etc. Most gardens are HIGHLY manicured.
Wires are used to hold back branches and, I assume, guide trees so that they grow in the desired direction. Notice that they use wood bracers between the wire and tree so that the wire does not dig into the tree.
More information on the Ginkaku-ji Temple website.
Rating: B
A decent semi-scenic walking path to get from one temple/shrine to the next but overated as a tourist destination if you aren't also visiting shrines along the way. My pictures appear to glamorize it; what you don't see are the everyday shops and houses to the left and right of the path.
Rating: B
Eikan-do Temple
Nanzen-ji Temple
Heian Shrine
Fresh brewed matcha green tea at one of the temples
Sannenzaka Ninenzaka in Gion
Yasaka Shrine
Toji Temple
I saw lots of temples and shrines throughout my trip. Kyoto and Osaka are filled with them, and you can find them in every town. Some of the temples and shrines look very similar. Sometimes, the only appreciable difference between them were their gardens. Unless you are visiting temples or shrines to complete a collection for bragging rights, or you are familiar enough with temples or shrines to appreciate the minor differences between them, I recommend that you select specific destinations for specific reasons (beautiful garden, oldest whatever in Japan, biggest wooden structure, etc.) and skip any temple or shrine that doesn't have a notable feature you HAVE to see in person. Remember, the Internet is full of pictures. I know from experience that temple/shrine burnout is a thing. I'd also like to mention that the most temples, gardens, and castles have an entrance fee and most of the more expensive ones were, contrarily, the least worth their cost (in my opinion). In other words, you often don't get what you pay for.
Rating: A+ I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys museums
I loved this museum for several reasons. Some of the exhibits are hands on, meaning they teach you something and encourage you to play with, smell, or listen to physical pieces to reinforce the learning. Some of the exhibits not only describe the step by step process for making an item but have physical models showing the product, either midway, or following, each major step. It is unbelievable how many steps, and how much time, it takes to properly make traditional crafts. They had a lady there whose job was to demonstrate how to properly apply a personal seal to paper, then I got to choose my own seal out of several and give it a go. The museum is one large room, but don't let that fool you, I spent over an hour reading, playing with, and enjoying the displays. No photos allowed but there are pics on their website.
More information on the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design website.
Rating: B
A large, brightly colored shrine, the head shrine for thirty thousand smaller inari shrines throughout Japan. It was large and distinctive but not the highlight of my day (I couldn't tell you why). I imagine that most people will find it worthwhile. If it's on your to-do list, I see no reason to remove it.
More information on the Fushimi Inari Taisha website.
Rating: C (disclaimer below)
My disclaimer is that I did not follow the tori gates to the end, climb the mountain, or visit the other shrines that were further than the point where I turned back. If you don't want me to spoil it for you, skip this paragraph ...... Other than the impressive number of tori gates that are constructed here, I disliked this place. The Japanese characters on the gates may look exotic to visitors who don't know Japanese but knowing that they are just the names of donors makes it feel as cheap as rows of theater seats with donor names tacked on the back. Up close, most of the tori gates are in disrepair with paint peeling off and discoloration. Along the left side of the gates are poles with power lines, and ugly fencing lines some of the right side, damaging the "holiness" of the site for me. Tons of tourists taking pictures or acting a fool also subtract from the ambiance. The reasons I did not give it an F rating are because I did not hike the whole trail and the number of tori gates IS impressive, especially given that part of the route has not one but two trails with tori gates nearly side by side.
More information on the Fushimi Inari Taisha website.
Rating: A
A large Buddha (Thousand-Armed Kannon Seated Statue), his protector gods, and 1000 (I counted) Thousand-Armed Kannon Standing Statues (each one unique in some way), all hand-carved out of wood. Need I say more? I took the first picture outside the temple, where you wash your hands. No photos inside, but I wanted to remember this place, so I grabbed photos off the Internet that resonated with my memory of the temple.
More information on the Rengeoin Sanjusangendo website.
Rating: C
If you don't want me to spoil it for you, skip this paragraph ...... It was super crowded. People kept stopping to take pictures, sometimes to the point that they blocked the way, you couldn't proceed without being rude, and you had to wait. You walk down a wide paved road and you are seperated from the bamboo on either side by a tall thatch fence that you have to peek through to get a look at the grove at ground level. The stalks were brown, not green, so they looked part dead to me. The grounds were manicured so there was no underbrush. Overall, it looked and felt like a tourist trap. I compare this to a relatively tiny bamboo grove at some botanical garden visited years ago where I walked an uncrowded path amongst the bamboo, I touched the green bamboo stalks that were mere feet from me on either side, and it felt like I was standing in the middle of a bamboo forest.
It wasn't a total loss. Off to the side, they had a seperate bamboo farm for active harvesting. I snuck a little bit into a "staff only" area and took pictures of a more enjoyable bamboo grove. I did not get caught.
More information on an unofficial Arashiyama Bamboo Grove website.
Rating: B
A nice little garden that's really a sculptured nature hike. I was not aware of its existance until I reached the end of the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and saw it. My impromptu visit to this garden redeemed the long trip I made for the bamboo grove. I wouldn't come just for this garden, but if you're already in Sagatenryuji Susukinobabacho and want a nice little garden/nature hike, this should do the trick. The photos I took below do not really showcase it, so check the website for more pics.
More information on an unofficial Okochi Sanso Garden website.
Rating: A
A palace is built differently than a castle and has examples of wealth not present in castles, making it a refreshingly different place to tour. As usual, I only took a few pics of things that stood out to me, but there is more to see there. The first photo is a gate house where the carriages of only the most important guests stopped. The door opens to the receiving room for special guests, a fancier room than the receiving room for lower-ranked guests.
More information on the Kyoto Imperial Palace website.
Rating: A As a whole, the Nara area is ripe with sightseeing destinations
I had more activities planned in the Nara area than those below but it was raining most of the time, there was more uphill walking between destinations than I expected, I was exhausted from the previous day, hungry, and I was in an uncharacteristic mood, so I headed back early before my body and mind completely crashed. Keep that in mind when I rate things. A full day of rest before visiting Nara would have been preferable, and I recommend it to you, especially if you are walking the hills to multiple destinations in Nara. If you drive your own car, traveling between destinations will be trivial instead of serious exercise.
Rating: B
If feeding or watching semi-wild deer excites you, this is the place to go. For me, the novelty was fun for about 15 minutes and then it was time to do other things. People say that the deer bow but they're really just nodding there head like we nod for 'yes'. Regardless, bowing to them and having them respond with a nod is a hoot. When you arrive, several vendors are scattered around the main deer feeding grounds, selling wafers that you feed the deer (reference the first photo below). You're not supposed to feed the deer anything other than wafers.
Pro tip: Do NOT feed the deer that approach you near the wafer vendors (reference the first photo below). Many of them are aggressive and they will pull on your clothing, bite you, or try to stand on you with their front hooves if they know you have wafers and don't feed them immediately. I had deer do all of those things to me; it was not fun and a little scary. Instead, buy your wafers (I recommend buying 2 - 3 batches per person if you plan to feed deer for longer than a minute), quickly hide them in a pocket or bag so the deer don't see them, and walk to another part of the deer park where individual deer are standing near people but not approaching them. These solo deer are much nicer and not aggressive. The deer that are lying on the grass have less interest in wafers or people so, for best results, pick the deer who are standing nearby who seem to be patiently waiting for something. They are waiting for you. This was how I had my best deer interactions.
The photo below are just SOME of the deer you could see at one time. Turn your head to one side or the other and there are more deer.
Rating: B
Kasugataisha was a small shrine that displayed a plethora of lanterns with many different designs made of metal or stone. Lanterns are this shrines "thing", which made it unique. It is not, on its own, a reason to travel to Nara but it's a worthwhile stop if you at Nara Park. Keep in mind that I only saw a little of what Nara has to offer so there may be better things to see.
More information on the Kasugataisha Shrine website.
Rating: B
No photos allowed but the website has some. It's a small museum. The two modern visual art installations utilizing light were fascinating and the two giant Tortoise drums were pretty cool. Everything else was basically just old Japanese stuff like swords, arrows, samurai armor, hanging wall prints, statues, and such. Like everything else I saw in Nara, it's not worth the long drive on its own but it was a decent way to spend 30-60 minutes not getting rained on.
More information on the Kasugataisha Museum website.