Jojuin Garden at Kiyomizu-dera (the Moon Garden)
This season's opening
Jojuin Moon Garden special opening (day)
- Hours
- 10:00 to 16:00 last entry. Evening session from 18:00 (listed separately)
- Admission
- ¥600 (¥300 children). The ¥500 Kiyomizu-dera admission is also required, per the prefectural tourism board
- Booking
- No booking
The normally closed Jojuin study hall opens, and you can sit on the veranda facing the Moon Garden. Only by day do you see it run on into the wooded hill behind
No entry between 16:00 and 18:00. After the day session, rest on Sannen-zaka and come back to see the garden lit in the evening. The temple says the day session starts at 10:00 (the city tourism site says 9:00), so plan on 10:00
Jojuin Moon Garden special opening (evening)
- Hours
- 18:00 to 20:30 last entry (no entry 16:00–18:00)
- Admission
- ¥600 (¥300 children). Kiyomizu-dera admission is also required, per the prefectural tourism board (¥500 for adults in the evening)
- Booking
- No booking
The evening session: the Moon Garden lit up, seen from the same study-hall veranda as by day
Kiyomizu-dera's main hall also opens at night on the same dates (17:30–21:00 last entry, ¥500, per the city tourism site). Jojuin stops admitting at 20:30, so see Jojuin first and the main hall after
About the garden
The study-hall garden of a sub-temple on the north side of Kiyomizu-dera. It takes the wooded slope of Mt. Kodaiji behind it as part of the design, so the pond and clipped shrubs appear to run straight into the hill. The gate stays shut most of the year; you can sit on the veranda only during brief spring and autumn openings.
Where to stand
Once seated on the veranda, find the Eboshi stone roughly in the middle of the pond. The Kagero lantern stands right beside it, and a little further off the Magakijima stone is set angled toward it. Then raise your eyes and find the height at which the low hedge in front merges with the green of the hill behind. The water basin at the veranda edge is the one called Tagasode. On your way out, check whether the garden shows in the old glass panels of the study-hall doors.
Practical notes
Jojuin opens for only about ten days in late November (and briefly in spring). No booking is needed, but the Kiyomizu-dera precinct is packed in autumn, so aim for 10:00 on a weekday or the evening session (18:00–20:30 last entry). The Kyoto Prefecture tourism board says the ¥500 Kiyomizu-dera admission is required on top of the ¥600 garden fee.
Tea and food nearby
Small places within walking distance. Check their opening days against the garden's.
- ☾ Open after the evening viewing10 min walk🍶 BarKohaku bar (Park Hyatt Kyoto)
A 16-seat counter bar in the hotel above Ninen-zaka, looking out over Yasaka Pagoda and the city. It serves until midnight after the evening sessions at Jojuin or Kodai-ji, and being a hotel bar it stays quiet enough to talk.
Order：A cocktail with the house gin made with Kyoto's Ki No Bi distillery
- 7 min walk☕ CafeAkebonotei tea café
A café on Sannen-zaka inside a building with ties to the end of the Edo period, the same era whose stories linger at Jojuin. There is a tea room upstairs for a matcha session.
Order：A stone-milled matcha drink