Shunkoin Entrance

When planning our Japan trip we booked our Kyoto accommodations first, sensing while doing a cursory initial search, that we would have the most difficulty here for finding something within our requirements and budget. We didn’t want to stay at a standard Western-style hotel, and we also didn’t want to splurge on a $300/person/night Ryokan. (Heck, even a $100/person/night would have been a little steep for us.) That left a few mid-range Ryokan or Minshuku, and we didn’t necessarily want to stay at backpacker’s hostels, either.

And that’s where Shunkoin Temple fit the bill, though I did send out more emails inquiring as to where other places had availability.  In truth, my first choice had been the Guest House Waraku-an, found through Flickr friend San ku-kai’s beautiful photostream of his Japan trips.  Waraku-an bills itself as a hostel, but has private accommodations available for couples and groups.

We had also started researching late, inquiring around January for a trip in late March; Waraku-an’s accommodations are priced so reasonably that they’re booked up to 6 months in advance! A list of other accommodations we explored in the same price range are listed at the end of the post.

A stay at Shunkoin Temple is not quite the traditional temple stay (shukubo), where guests can witness (or experience) the lifestyle of buddhist monks, and taste shojin ryori – vegetarian Buddhist cuisine. Shunkoin offers something in-between, at a much lower price, and meals are not provided. For an extra fee, guests can join in the morning  zen meditation sessions with the abbot, after which comes a free tour.

Shunkoin is on the north-west side of Kyoto, a bit far away from a majority of the popular Kyoto sights, but close to Arashiyama’s famed bamboo groves.

Myoshinji Signage

What makes it distinctive is that it’s part of the Myoshinji Temple Complex that’s composed of some 40+ sub-temples in addition to the main temple building. Myoshinji is part of and is considered the largest of all affiliated temples in the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism.

Myoshinji Walkway

Myoshinji Temple

We walked along quiet pathways lined with large cobblestones each day to get to and from Shunkoin, peering at the buildings and temple structures that dotted the way, listening to the hauntingly beautiful buddhist chants in the evenings. The nearest JR Station is the Hanazono station, about a 5-minute walk away from southern gate of the temple complex. Once within, the walk to Shunkoin is about 5 minutes more.

Shunkoin Temple

Everyday we were reminded at how lucky we were to have found this place. We enjoyed our stay at Shunkoin very much, and ultimately regretted not taking advantage of the meditation session and tour.

Our Guesthouse at Shunkoin

Another view - looking from our room at Shunkoin

I took the second photo above on April 7th, the morning of another earthquake in the Tokyo/ Kanto area. While we slept, another 7.4 aftershock had hit Miyagi prefecture and made the U.S. news. Overnight, our friends had sent concerned emails and Facebook messages asking if we were ok. I snapped the photo and shot a small video to show that all was well in Kyoto, that we had noticed nary at thing, and that the sun was shining and birds were chirping and we were on our way even further south that day.

We made booking inquiries by communicating via email with the proprietor of Shunkoin, the Vice-Abbot Takafumi Kawakami. Rev. Taka was educated in the U.S. and speaks and writes excellent English.

We had initially reserved a room with shared bathroom for ¥4000 per person for our first 2 nights, and a room with in-suite bathroom for ¥5000/person/ night for the remaining 3 nights. Because of the tsunami and resulting cancelations, we were upgraded to the room with the private bath for the entirety of our stay. And though the Rev. Taka was nice enough to charge us only according to our original reservation, we wanted to pay the appropriate amount in any case: ¥5000/person/ night.

Our room at Shunkoin

We had a sizeable space – perhaps 7 to 8 tatami mats large. The photo above makes the room seem a bit smaller – we pushed the futons together and towards one corner of the room, leaving us space for our luggage and a bit of a walkway between the beds and the bathrooms. There are no closets, but there is a small desk, plenty of electrical outlets for plugging in gadgets (we had a laptop, mobile phones, portable batteries and DD’s iPad) and speedy Wifi. A hair dryer can be requested from the front desk. Our room adjoined another similar to the one we had; walls are thin and noise easily crosses the barrier, but that wasn’t a problem for us.

Split Bathroom

Split Bathroom: Sizeable Shower

The bathroom is split, with a Western (smart) toilet on one side and a roomy shower and sink on the other – very modern, useful, functional and immaculate. The bathrooms are cleaned and the rooms straightened every other day, and we received fresh towels at that frequency as well. If you don’t feel like taking your shoes on and off every time you exit and enter your rooms, Shunkoin also provides handy slip-on clogs and sandals for pottering around the patio and garden areas.

Cherry Blossoms and Bicycles

Free rental bicycles are available, and there is no curfew. The main gate is closed and locked at 9pm; however, the side gate remains open 24/7.

We were glad to have had such a pleasant stay in beautiful and peaceful accomodations. We’d definitely return, but might try on a subsequent trip to Kyoto to find something a bit closer to the other parts of the city (Gion and South/ South-Eastern Kyoto), not because that we didn’t like Shunkoin, but because we want to experience other parts of Kyoto a little more easily.

Getting Around

We tried using Kyoto’s bus system at first, but eventually found that we were much better off taking the JR line, transferring to another line or even the Kyoto subway, made for faster, more reliable travel. Once, taking Kyoto’s city bus took nearly an hour to reach our destination – Michelin-starred Kaiseki restaurant Kichisen in Eastern Kyoto. Google walking directions estimated that it would have taken us just as long to reach it by foot.

Other Options

Other accomodation options in Kyoto that we considered, priced reasonably – around $100-$150/ night. (Note that pricing for Japan accomodations will usually be priced per person unless otherwise indicated.

• Guest House Waraku-An
• B&B Juno/ B&B Keiko
• Nagomi-Ryokan Yuu
• Takigawa Ryokan

More Flickr photos of both Myoshinji and Shunkoin are here.

Shunkoin Temple