Former Mitsui Family Shimogamo Villa Garden
This season's opening
Former Mitsui Villa: Upper Floors Autumn Opening
- Hours
- 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30); closed Wednesdays
- Admission
- ¥1,100 for all three floors (2025: ¥800 secondary students, ¥600 primary). Ground floor and garden only: ¥500 weekdays, ¥600 weekends (2025)
- Booking
- Booking advisedAdvance bookings get priority for the third-floor lookout (2025: 15-minute slots plus a few same-day places). The dates come from JR Central's Souda Kyoto; the facility had not opened 2026 bookings as of 27 Sep.
The normally closed second-floor rooms of the main house and the glass-walled third-floor lookout: the garden seen from above, and the Higashiyama hills from the top.
The lookout is tiny, so see the garden from the ground floor around your slot. Closed on the Wednesdays in the period (25 Nov, 2 Dec).
About the garden
A villa the Mitsui merchant family built just south of Shimogamo Shrine, combining an 1880 main house, a 1925 entrance wing and a late-Edo teahouse. The garden circles a gourd-shaped pond and a mossy mound. During the autumn opening you can climb to the normally closed second floor and the glass-walled third-floor lookout.
Where to stand
Look at the pond first from the ground-floor rooms, then climb to the second floor and look down at the same pond. From above, the gourd-shaped pond, the moss mound and the curving paths read like a plan. The third-floor lookout faces out toward the Higashiyama hills.
Practical notes
The ground floor and garden are open year-round except Wednesdays; the upper floors open only for limited periods. In 2025 the autumn upper-floor opening ran Nov 20–Dec 7 for ¥1,100, with timed slots for the tiny lookout; 2026 dates are not yet on the official page. Five minutes' walk from Demachiyanagi Station.
Tea and food nearby
Small places within walking distance. Check their opening days against the garden's.
- 6 min walk☕ CafeRyugetsudo (classical music cafe)
A classical-music cafe above Demachiyanagi Station, split into a listening room (¥600 seat charge) and a room where you can talk; decide which you want before going in.
- 8 min walk☕ CafeDELTA (cafe and art space)
A cafe near the Kamo river delta with an art space run by the KYOTOGRAPHIE photo festival; house-roasted coffee, daily lunch, natural wine on Saturday evenings.
Order：Daily lunch and house-roasted coffee