Arashiyama Bamboo Grove Kyoto 

Overview:

Grow­ing tall on the edges of Kyoto, the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est is not only the World’s most famous and (in our view) most beau­ti­ful bam­boo for­est, but also is a sto­ried and icon­ic won­der of Japan – with a stroll through the incred­i­ble grace­ful emer­ald green tow­er­ing Bam­boo for­est allow­ing you to immerse your­self in not only the beau­ty, tran­quil and peace of the for­est but allow you to expe­ri­ence one of the sounds of Japan – as the great bam­boo giants sway in the breeze cre­at­ing a serene and calm back­ing track as you explore this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Stretch­ing for just 16 square kilo­me­tres and eas­i­ly explored along a well defined and marked path, the for­est was orig­i­nal­ly estab­lished as a dec­o­ra­tive thought palace for Japan­ese and Noble Emper­ors – and is believed to have tak­en its cur­rent form and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty in the ear­ly Heian Peri­od (790 AD). Since then, a series of tem­ples and palace’s that lie both out­side and with­in the for­est have been added by Japan’s elite, with Shin­to Shrines and Tem­ples being devel­oped near Bam­boo Gar­dens – or con­tain­ing large swathes of Bam­boo to ward off evil in accor­dance with Bud­dhist beliefs.  

This belief is best seen in the impres­sive Ten­ryu-ji Tem­ple, con­sid­ered the best tem­ple with­in Kyoto – and which marks a great spot to enter the for­est – and begin explor­ing the grace­ful and tran­quil Bam­boo. Enter­ing into the for­est, you’ll soon come upon the famous Bam­boo Alley – an incred­i­ble pho­to spot – and the best place to tru­ly take in the giant liv­ing won­ders of the Bam­boo Trees, which stretch some 30 metres into the beau­ti­ful Japan­ese sky and sway in the light breeze cre­at­ing the icon­ic sound of the Bam­boo For­est.  

Although a trip through the For­est is short – with the path­way through the trees being only 500 metres long – and can often be con­gest­ed as crowds flock to take in the stun­ning beau­ty of the trees – if you get to the for­est ear­ly morn­ing and take your time explor­ing this incred­i­ble oth­er-world­ly nat­ur­al won­der, there’s no doubt that a jour­ney through the Bam­boo For­est is awe-inspir­ing and beau­ti­ful as you won­der throughthe incred­i­ble tow­er­ing emer­ald green trees sway­ing in the breeze against the back­drop of a tran­quil sound­track, that com­bines top make the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est a tru­ly unique won­der of the world.   

Where:  

Found on the north­ern edges of the major and beau­ti­ful Japan­ese city of Kyoto, the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est sits at the foot of the ‘Storm Moun­tains’ in the heart of the tra­di­tion­al vil­lage of Sagano.  

Getting there:  

Lying on the North­ern edges of Kyoto, the beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­der of the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble.  

By Plane:

For those out­side of Japan and Kyoto, there are two main ways to reach the beau­ti­ful city, first up from those out­side Japan – the major air­port of Kyoto is Kan­sai Inter­na­tion­al Air­port which lies 90 min­utes out­side of the city – and from which you can eas­i­ly hop onto one of Japan’s incred­i­ble trains to reach Down­town Kyoto and then head onto the for­est.  

For those trav­el­ing domes­ti­cal­ly, and who pre­fer fly­ing over train, the best air­port to head to is the Osa­ka Inter­na­tion­al Air­port which is served by fre­quent flights across Japan, and lies an hour out­side of down­town Kyoto, but which is served by direct trains into the city cen­tre and into the metro line to allow for eas­i­er access.  

By Train:

For those who want a true Japan­ese expe­ri­ence and want to mar­vel at the incred­i­ble beau­ty of both the Japan­ese land­scape and engi­neer­ing advance­ment, then arriv­ing into Kyoto by Bul­let train – which is faster, eas­i­er and smoother that fly­ing is for you.  

Known as the “shinkansen” – the bul­let train can reach speeds of up to 320 km/h and is both punc­tu­al and com­fort­able – and is in our view the best way to trav­el between cities in Japan – with a trip from Tokyo to Kyoto – a dis­tance of some 450 kilo­me­tres in just over two hours.  

Cost­ing some ¥13,500 Yen (Rough­ly $120 USD) there are 7 shinkansen lines con­nect­ing the major cities of Japan – includ­ing Tokyo, Kyoto, Osa­ka – and to date there has been no major acci­dents involv­ing shinkansen trains – and you can also expect free wifi on the trains — so you’re trav­el­ling in style and com­fort towards Kyoto.  

For using the shinkansen train sys­tem, it’s a sim­ple mat­ter of check­ing the sched­ule and select­ing the train you wish to take – and you can get tick­ets either online, or at one of the auto­mat­ic tick­et machines (that come with Eng­lish options) at the sta­tion, with your tick­et in hand it’s then a mat­ter of pass­ing through secu­ri­ty bar­ri­ers, head­ing to your plat­form and board­ing the train – be sure to be there at least 5 min­utes before the train departs as they do run on sched­ule – and find­ing your seat in either the ordi­nary (stan­dard class) or Green Car (advanced class).  

An incred­i­ble effec­tive and scenic way fo trav­el­ling across Japan – and to Kyoto – trav­el­ling by shinkansen is a unique and com­fort­able expe­ri­ence – and one we would cer­tain­ly rec­om­mend for those approach­ing the won­der of the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est from with­in Japan to add an extra bit of explor­ing onto your jour­ney.   

From Kyoto:

Hav­ing reached down­town Kyoto – by plane or Train, access to the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove is eas­i­ly found and con­ve­nient as it’s a sim­ple mat­ter of find­ing the main street in the dis­trict of Arashiya­ma and look­ing for the famous Toget­su-kyo-bashi bridge – and fol­low­ing the sign posts for the main entrance, or tak­ing our sug­gest­ed route with a vis­it to the beau­ti­ful tra­di­tion­al Ten­ryu­ji Tem­ple first which can lead you into the For­est.  

To find the main street of Arashiya­ma and the path­way to the for­est, our rec­om­mend­ed option is to hop on Kyoto’s metro Line – with the Saga-Arashiya­ma Sta­tion on the JR Sagano Line being the stop that lies 10 walk min­utes away from the Bam­boo Forest’s main entrance and let­ting you stroll over the Toget­su-kyo-bashi bridge from its exit straight towards the For­est – it’s a cheap and effec­tive way to get to the entrance to the won­der and begin your walk down the Bam­boo Forest’s incred­i­ble path­way towards the Bam­boo Alley.  

While there are bus­es and taxi’s avail­able going by metro will take away any lan­guage bar­ri­ers and ensure that you don’t get lost on your way there – for a care­free and easy way to nav­i­gate Kyoto.  

For those who fan­cy a unique – and cer­tain­ly roman­tic way of get­ting to the for­est and want to expe­ri­ence more of the incred­i­ble Japan­ese train sys­tem, then it’s pos­si­ble to arrive at the bam­boo for­est on a stun­ning roman­tic vin­tage train – the Sagano train – which winds its way from Kameo­ka Sta­tion through the lush green storm moun­tains of Arashiya­ma along the Hozu­gawa Riv­er towards the Saga Sta­tion.  

The train ride is espe­cial­ly beau­ti­ful dur­ing cher­ry blos­som sea­son – and dur­ing the win­ter Hana­toro fes­ti­val – and oper­ates from Mid-March – to Late Decem­ber – just be sure to book well in advance – as the train is con­sid­ered not only a hon­ey­moon hot spot but also the most stun­ning and beau­ti­ful way to arrive at the incred­i­ble won­der of the Bam­boo For­est.   

Best time to Visit: 

While the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est is beau­ti­ful and open all year round – there’s a few key times to vis­it to make sure your vis­it to this won­der is as mag­i­cal and spe­cial as pos­si­ble. 

As a small but incred­i­ble won­der, you can expect crowds to flock, par­tic­u­lar­ly around the main entrance and the stun­ning Bam­boo Val­ley, espe­cial­ly dur­ing peak times, so for this rea­son we strong­ly advise to vis­it the Bam­boo Val­ley using the route out­lined below at ear­ly morn­ing and dur­ing a week day – oth­er­wise you’ll find the trail just too crowd­ed and will miss out on both stun­ning sights and hear­ing the incred­i­ble sound of the Bam­boo For­est, with ear­ly morn­ing sun­rise on a clear day being the best time to cap­ture stun­ning pho­tos and immerse your­self in the rich beau­ty and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty of this won­der.  

For those who want a dif­fer­ent but equal­ly stun­ning take on the Bam­boo For­est, be sure to head to Kyoto in the win­ter, where the for­est is espe­cial­ly illu­mi­nat­ed in the Hana­toro fes­ti­val – vis­it­ing dur­ing win­ter will not only give you less crowds and more time with­in the For­est, but as the Snow falls on the path­way and the trees give you an incred­i­ble, almost oth­er world­ly expe­ri­ence as the Mag­i­cal for­est becomes a true win­ter won­der­land – just be sure to wrap up warm against the cold weath­er for max­i­mum enjoy­ment ! 

Explore:

The essence of Japan, the beau­ti­ful Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est is not only a tran­quil spot of beau­ti­ful nature but a jour­ney through Japan­ese cul­ture as your pon­der through the incred­i­ble 16 square Kilo­me­tres of this incred­i­ble Bam­boo For­est admir­ing not only the 25 foot high emer­ald green Bam­boo trees, but explor­ing tem­ples, shrines and if you’re lucky – lis­ten­ing to one of the icon­ic sounds of Japan – as the great Bam­boo trees sway, crash and rus­tle into each oth­er, for an atmos­pher­ic and spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence.  

The path­way that winds through the incred­i­ble for­est is only 500 metres – giv­ing you a short but incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence with­in the for­est and is also con­ve­nient­ly explored on foot through a well-designed and marked trail – giv­ing you plen­ty of time, view­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and an easy route to explore the incred­i­ble Bam­boo Trees  

We’d advise begin­ning your jour­ney through the won­der by approach­ing if from the main street of Arashiya­ma, and then jour­ney­ing across the icon­ic and beau­ti­ful 155 metre long bridge of Toget­su-kyo-bashi which takes you over the gor­geous Kat­sura riv­er and from where you can opt to pass hours watch­ing the mas­ters of Cor­morant fish­ing per­form, as their spe­cial­ly trained birds scour through the Japan­ese waters catch­ing fish.  

Hav­ing crossed the Toget­su-kyo-bashi bridge – and pur­chased tick­ets for the tem­ple and gar­den – we’d advise skip­ping the main entrance to the for­est and instead head­ing first to the holy and beau­ti­ful tra­di­tion­al Ten­ryu­ji Tem­ple, which is known as the tem­ple of the heav­en­ly drag­on, and which was accord­ing to leg­end built to relieve the guilt of the Japan­ese emper­or Takau­ji after he blood­i­ly seized pow­er in the 14th cen­tu­ry – which he then fol­lowed up by build­ing a tem­ple in his name over the death spot of the deposed for­mer Emper­or to seal his pow­er.  

Con­sid­ered the finest tem­ple in Kyoto, and one that encom­pass­es the Japan­ese tra­di­tion of Bam­boo rep­re­sent­ing strength from its inte­ri­or, the Ten­ryu­ji Tem­ple (open 8:00am – 5:00pm) not only allows you to start your jour­ney through the won­der of the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est by first explor­ing its most promi­nent tem­ple, but as the main entrance of the for­est is often crowd­ed, if you head to the tem­ple first and then exit through the Temple’s North gate you should find a path to the left that leads direct­ly into the bam­boo for­est – allow­ing your first impres­sion and expe­ri­ence to be one of rel­a­tive soli­tude and beau­ty as you gaze upon this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

As you jour­ney upon the road, the path­way that leads you through the beau­ti­ful for­est will open up to you – and for those who have arrived at sun­rise (you’ll have to enter through the main gate) you should get incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties as you jour­ney for­ward towards the high­light of the for­est – the incred­i­ble ‘Bam­boo Alley.’ 

A true beau­ty spot – and one of the most scenic and pho­tographed spots in the world – Bam­boo Alley rep­re­sent the spot where the Bam­boo trees align on each side of the path,  

and if you’re lucky you’ll get a spir­i­tu­al and oth­er world­ly view as the sun ris­es between them – giv­ing an emer­ald green and daz­zling mirage of these incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­ders enlight­ened by the soft Japan­ese morn­ing sun shin­ing through them.    

For those that arrive dur­ing the day, you can expect your view and expe­ri­ence to be some­what imped­ed by the throngs of tourists bussed in – but for those who are luck­i­ly enough to arrive when crowds are min­i­mal this is tru­ly the place to appre­ci­ate this incred­i­ble won­der and take in the sto­ried lega­cy and cul­ture aspects of these beau­ti­ful trees, as well as being the spot to lis­ten – on a windy day – for the trees sway­ing and gen­tly crash­ing into each oth­er – cre­at­ing the famous sound of the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est and pro­duc­ing the sound that ‘encom­pass­es Japan.’  

Hav­ing tak­en your time to appre­ci­ate these incred­i­ble bam­boo trees, grabbed the pho­tos and cap­tured and appre­ci­at­ed the sound, mov­ing fur­ther along the path you’ll find fur­ther Bam­boo trees – each one adding to the beau­ty of the won­der – and from there you should also come across our pick of the shrines with­in the for­est – the Nonomiya Jin­ja shrine.  

Nes­tled with­in the beau­ti­ful for­est, the Nonomiya Jin­ja shine is famous from the 11th cen­tu­ry Japan­ese nov­el – the tales of the Gen­ji – and although small­er in size and stature when com­pared to oth­er tem­ples found with­in Kyoto – has a sto­ried his­to­ry to match – with it once being used as a shrine not only for the purifi­ca­tion of Japan­ese princess­es, with the main alter still intact today, but also as a fer­til­i­ty shrine to assist women in child­birth – with the shrine still fre­quent­ed by young Japan­ese women on a dai­ly basis seek­ing good for­tune. 

Hav­ing explored the shrine, it’s back onto the beau­ti­ful Bam­boo For­est path – again giv­ing you a fur­ther chance to admire the beau­ti­ful trees and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty of this impres­sive won­der, as you jour­ney round – be sure  to keep an eye out for the Tur­tle Rock – a leg­endry rock that grants the wish­es of any­one who touch­es it –you’ll slow­ly begin to see the path becom­ing more crowd­ed as you jour­ney towards the main entrance.  

Tak­ing a few last moment to appre­ci­ate the incred­i­ble for­est and gaz­ing upon the beau­ty of the emer­ald green tow­er­ing Bam­boo trees, you’ll find your­self sad­ly ascend­ing towards the end of the path marked with cob­ble­stones – before you do though, we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend that you check out the beau­ti­ful Okochi-San­so Vil­la – which in our view is one of the best villa’s and gar­dens in the whole of Japan and an incred­i­ble way to top off your vis­it to the stun­ning Sagano Bam­boo For­est.  

Hav­ing bought your tick­et before enter­ing the Bam­boo For­est, the Okochi-San­so Vil­la is the for­mer res­i­dence of the famous Samu­rai actor Okochi Den­jiro and along­side giv­ing you a chance to explore the study and muse­um of Okochi – you can walk along and explore the incred­i­ble tran­quil tra­di­tion­al Japan­ese gar­dens of this Japan­ese leg­end, with the gar­dens known to be in full bloom regard­less of the sea­son and host­ing some of the most beau­ti­ful flow­ers in the whole of Japan.  

Best of all though a vis­it to Okochi-San­so Vil­la ends the only way a trip to a great Japan­ese beau­ty spot like Sagano Bam­boo For­est can – with a spot of tra­di­tion­al green tea in the beau­ti­ful green tea house of the vil­la – and from where you can kick back and gaze upon the incred­i­ble won­der of the world of the Sagano Bam­boo For­est while sip­ping tea – in true Japan­ese style.  

Hav­ing fin­ished your tea – you’ll find your­self back upon the path again and with one file gaze upon the beau­ti­ful Bam­boo For­est it’s time to nav­i­gate your way through the crowds and exit the path­way and the won­der.  

For those fan­cy­ing a fur­ther spot of Kyoto Beau­ty, we’d advise head­ing to the stun­ning Kameya­ma-koen Park which is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble off a short and well sign­post­ed road from the main entrance – from where you can ascend to the tran­quil peace of the sum­mit and watch not only the beau­ty of Kyoto pass by – but also take in incred­i­ble views of the Arashiya­ma Moun­tains, the Hasegawa Riv­er and the true won­der of the world that is the Emer­ald green Sparkling Bam­boo trees of the Arashiya­ma Sagano Bam­boo For­est. 

How long to stay:

We’d advise set­ting aside three hours for the jour­ney through the Arashiya­ma bam­boo grove.  

While the length is short and only 500 metres – which is eas­i­ly walk­a­ble in an hour – set­ting aside more time will not only give you a chance to explore the inspir­ing Ten­ryu-Ji Tem­ple and the roman­tic Okochi-San­so vil­la but also allow you to immerse your­self in the beau­ty of the for­est and take in the incred­i­ble sound land­scapes that tru­ly embody the best of Japan­ese cul­ture and beau­ty.  

For those who wish to tru­ly immerse them­selves in the won­der of both the Arashiya­ma bam­boo grove and Kyoto, we’d advise com­bin­ing your vis­it with an overnight stop at a tra­di­tion­al Japan­ese Ryokan to tru­ly get in touch with authen­tic Japan­ese his­to­ry.  

Top Tip:

The beau­ty and expe­ri­ence in the won­der of Arashiya­ma is deter­mined by when you arrive – get there in peak sea­son dur­ing the mid­dle of the day and not only will crowds be at a pre­mi­um real­ly tak­ing the edge off your enjoy­ment, but you’ll find the hus­tle and bus­tle of move­ment obscures the incred­i­ble sound of the for­est.  

For this rea­son our main top tip is to make sure you pick the per­fect time to go prefer­able off sea­son – and be sure to arrive at sun­rise to get those incred­i­ble and icon­ic pho­tos of the for­est.  

For those want­i­ng an even more mag­i­cal and oth­er world­ly expe­ri­ence be sure to head to Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove in the Win­ter time, where the blan­kets of snow trans­form this beau­ty spot to some­thing resem­bling a CS Lewis Nov­el, mak­ing not only for incred­i­ble pho­tos but a sur­re­al and awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence – just be sure to wrap up warm if head­ing to the won­der in the winder.  

Along­side this you can expect Japan to be safe and for those tak­ing on a longer trek and mak­ing side stops, we’d advise com­ing pre­pared with plen­ty of snacks and water, you will find plen­ty of restau­rants dot­ted around the city of Arashiya­ma but you can expect them to be ful­ly booked out with the prices a lit­tle on the high side – so for a more enjoy­able be sure to pick up some snacks before head­ing out onto the walk – espe­cial­ly if head­ing to the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo for­est in the morn­ing for the glo­ri­ous sun­rise – where a nice packed break­fast can real­ly make a dif­fer­ence.  

Final­ly for those who want a tra­di­tion­al Japan­ese cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence be sure to book your­self into a tra­di­tion­al Ryokan Inn for a night – a Ryokan is a fan­tas­tic way to get off the beat­en track and tru­ly immerse your­self in Japan­ese cul­ture as you trav­el around one of the true icons of Japan and a might won­der of the world.  

Cost:  

Hav­ing got your­self to Kyoto – admis­sion to the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove is com­plete­ly free – and best of all the won­der is open every day year round – so you have your pick of when to go to make sure you get to ful­ly immerse your­self in this incred­i­ble won­der an no cost ! 

For those who want a more immer­sive expe­ri­ence and to ful­ly expe­ri­ence all that thi incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der has to offer then we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing a trip to the beau­ti­ful Arashiya­ma Gar­dens and the Ten­ryu­ki Tem­ple – which are avail­able as a joint tick­et for ¥800 ($7 USD) and it’s well worth the price, with tick­ets pur­chased at a counter at the start of the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove.  

For those who do opt to stay in a tra­di­tion­al Ryokan Inn and immerse your­self fur­ther in Japan­ese cul­ture you can expect a one night stay to start from ¥5000 ($45 USD) – and be sure to book in advance as spots in the Ryokan’s do fill up in advance.  

All told – a trip to the incred­i­ble and beau­ti­ful Ryokan Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove – exclud­ing get­ting there – can be either at no cost – or set you back ¥800 – an absolute bar­gain to walk around and expe­ri­ence this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der of the world that encap­su­lates the spir­i­tu­al­i­ty and beau­ty of Japan.  

Fun Fact:  

Despite the leg­end, beau­ty and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty of the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove – the Grove itself was estab­lished as a pure­ly dec­o­ra­tive place, with Kyoto and the area around it being a favourite place of the Heian Emper­ors lead­ing to the cre­ation of a spe­cial Bam­boo Gar­den for them to won­der and pon­der with­in.  

Despite this the beau­ty of the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove now shines through, although it’s worth remem­ber­ing that the despite the Bam­boo – which tow­er over the beau­ti­ful city of Kyoto and reach­ing up to 30 metres in height – are actu­al­ly grass rather than trees – adding to their immense won­der and beau­ty, espe­cial­ly when blown by the wind to make the icon­ic sound of the the For­est – that is so unique and serene it is con­sid­ered the quin­tes­sen­tial sound of Japan.  

Best pho­to spot: 

An icon­ic shot of a tru­ly immense won­der – the best pho­to spot lies in the stun­ning “Bam­boo Alley” where explor­ers can walk down the path­way flanked by emer­ald and glow­ing Bam­boo for­est makes for an incred­i­ble shot. 

How­ev­er to cap­ture the icon­ic shot, there’s a cou­ple of things to know – first­ly you’ll need to be there at sun­rise (prefer­ably on a week­day) – arrive at any oth­er time and you/’ll find your shot blocked with bus loads of tourists which can real­ly take away from the beau­ty of your shot.  

It’s also impor­tant to know that the pho­tos you’ll see in tour book and on Insta­gram have like­ly been heav­i­ly edit­ed – not just to take out tourists, but also to bright­en and enlarge the bam­boo and the Sky – for those who fan­cy improv­ing their pho­tos in this man­ner be pre­pared for some hours work bright­en­ing up your pho­tos, it goes against the spir­it of explor­ing but as the for­est and the vol­ume of peo­ple in shot can be unpre­dictable it is worth it to ensure you cap­ture the full beau­ty of the won­der.  

For those who fan­cy an alter­na­tive shot then we’d rec­om­mend vis­it­ing in the win­ter­time, to cap­ture the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove cov­ered in snow – trans­form­ing it into an oth­er world­ly and mys­tique win­ter won­der­land, vis­it­ing in win­ter also gives you more chance of find­ing the for­est desert­ed – which can real­ly add to the beau­ty of your shots.  

Still what­ev­er shot you opt for, if you take your time, arrive at the right time – and get a lit­tle bit of luck – a shot of the incred­i­ble Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove in all its glo­ry will not only be one of your most cher­ished trav­el­ling pho­tos, but will allow you to cap­ture the beau­ty, essence and awe-inspir­ing spir­i­tu­al­i­ty of the stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der of the world that is the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove.