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Kyoto · History

Shoguns, emperors and samurai: a thousand years of power in Kyoto

Kyoto was Japan’s capital for more than a thousand years, and its centre still bears the marks of those who fought over power: emperors who reigned without ruling, shoguns who ruled without reigning, and samurai ready for anything. You will walk from Nijō Castle to the grounds of the Imperial Palace and then towards the Kamo River, ending in the market that has fed the city for centuries.

  • 6 stops
  • 4.6 km
  • 2 h 30 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
The Kenreimon gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, with a cypress-bark roof and walls with white lines

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 Nijō CastleThe castle where the first Tokugawa shogun settled and where the last one announced the end of his dynasty.
  2. 2 Hamaguri-gomon GateA gate that opened like a clam in a fire, and which took gunfire in a battle in 1864.
  3. 3 Kyoto Imperial Palace: Kenreimon GateThe most solemn gate of the palace where emperors lived for over five centuries, used only by them and by heads of state.
  4. 4 Honnō-ji TempleThe temple whose name stands for Japan’s most famous betrayal, home to Oda Nobunaga’s memorial tomb.
  5. 5 Sanjō Ōhashi BridgeThe end of the Tōkaidō, the road linking Kyoto and Edo, over a river where samurai heads were once put on display.
  6. 6 Nishiki Market and Nishiki Tenmangū“Kyoto’s kitchen”: a market lane saved by a painter, ending at a shrine whose torii is wedged into the buildings.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Shoguns, emperors and samurai: a thousand years of power in Kyoto

The castle at the end of an era

Nijō, where Tokugawa Ieyasu moved in in 1603 and where, in 1867, the last shogun announced he was handing power back to the emperor.

Bullet marks on a gate

The Hamaguri-gomon still shows the scars of the 1864 battle, when Chōshū samurai tried to seize the palace.

The Honnō-ji betrayal

The temple where Oda Nobunaga died in 1582, rebuilt by Hideyoshi on a new site, with the great unifier’s memorial tomb.

Keep exploring

More routes in Kyoto

Back to Kyoto
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