Kyoto is a world famous destination located about 1.5 hour bullet train ride from Tokyo. Kyoto is a large historic city with many different neighborhoods and areas. One of them being Kiyomizu, a popular area for tourists and travelers.
About Kiyomizu and Higashiyama
Kiyomizu is an area in Kyoto City that is most famous for Kiyomizu-dera, or Kiyomizu Temple. The area features other temples and shrines, but Kiyomizu-dera is by far the most well known.
Kiyomizu-dera is famous for beautiful views of the Kyoto cityscape, regardless of season. The walk leading up to the temple is a beautiful shopping street with many souvenir shops and restaurants for visitors to enjoy as they make the steep walk to the temple. Like Miyajima’s Itsukushima Shrine, Kiyomizu-dera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular destination for high school students on school trips.
Being a popular destination, Kiyomizu-dera is often featured in media. Some famous anime that have featured Kiyomizu-dera are Sword Art Online, Love Hina, Lucky Star, Fruits Basket, and my personal favorite, Detective Conan.
Kiyomizu is also famous for Kiyomizu yaki, or Kiyomizu ware, a locally produced pottery style. Many of the shops on the walk to Kiyumizu-dera feature this beautiful local pottery.
Where to Eat Around Kiyomizu and Higashiyama
With the high foot traffic driven by Kiyomizu-dera, the area features many lovely cafes and restaurants to match customer demands, and give to a fun and unique atmosphere. These are some of our favorites.
loose kyoto
4 Chome-163-6 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0862, Japan (Google Maps)
loose kyoto is a small stylish modern coffee shop located on the walk up to Kiyomizu-dera. They focus on coffee and freshly fried donuts, a classic combo rarely found in Japan.
They fry their donuts fresh in store, and offer limited seasonal special donuts. Some previous donuts have been earl grey, strawberry short cake, mont blanc, and lemonade. loose is a great first stop on your steep hike up to Kiyomizu-dera!
GOKAGO
2 Chome-258 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0862, Japan (Google Maps)
Serving specialty matcha, the powdered green tea Kyoto is famous for, GOKAGO is a popular tea shop on the walk up to Kiyomizu-dera. GOKAGO features specialty matcha with unique flavors, hand whisked in front of customers. This shop serves matcha lattes, hojicha lattes, green tea, as well as snacks like matcha affogato and matcha mochi donuts.
The store front is stylish, fresh, and modern. They also sell their matcha powder to take home, as well as different ceramics and equipment to make matcha and other loose leaf teas at home. We enjoyed their koi matcha latte float, an extra strong matcha latte topped with matcha ice cream. I highly recommend GOKAGO to those who love the taste of matcha!
Itoken x SOUใปSOU Kiyomizu Store
Japan, ใ605-0862 Kyoto, Higashiyama Ward, Kiyomizu, 3 Chomeโ315 ๆธ ๆฐด็ผๅฎ็ฐ (Google Maps)
The Itoken x SOUใปSOU Kiyomizu Store is a collaboration between Kyoto based ready to wear brand SOUใปSOU and Itoken, a Kyoto-based wagashi shop.
Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets, often featuring sweet red bean paste, but come in many shapes and sizes. Wagashi are classically paired with matcha, but can also be enjoyed on their own.
SOUใปSOU is a clothing brand influenced by Japanese traditional clothing and Scandinavian patterns, so many of their patterns feature Japanese motifs in a more Scandinavian inspired bright, colorful, and simple design. SOUใปSOU is extremely popular with locals and tourists in Kyoto and you can find their touch and patterns in many different shops in Kyoto.
Itoken x SOUใปSOU Kiyomizu Store is one such instance. They feature castella shaped as numbers, one of SOUใปSOU’s oldest patterns. While alphabets and characters are linguistically specific, the number pattern was designed so that it can be seen and understood worldwide, making it a more accessible pattern. The store also features other goods and sweets designed by the two brands, but the most iconic being the wagashi-on-a-stick. This is an unusual combination, wagashi usually being seen as a more sophisticated, sit-down-to-eat sweet, and the stick being a feature of more approachable street food. Given SOUใปSOU’s approach to accessibility, it is safe to assume that this was a conscious choice to bring their wagashi to the general public.
Kyo Yuba Mitakyu Kiyomizu
4 Chome-150-3 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0862, Japan (Google Maps)
Kyo Yuba Mitakyu serves Kyoto’s famous tofu. This shop heavily features yuba, or tofu skin, that is famous in both Kyoto and Nikko, Tochigi. They serve counter service street food versions of yuba, we enjoyed their lunch sets serving yuba in 6 different ways. One lunch set features tofu as the main dish, while the other features wagyu as the main dish. Both are equally delicious and deserve a taste! If you want to try out Kyoto’s famous yuba, this is a great way to taste it in a variety of ways!
Why is Kyoto famous for tofu? Kyoto has a lot of historic Buddhist temples and royalty, it also has a historical relationship with tofu. While in America tofu is often thought of as a vegetarian substitute for meat and in Japan and internationally it can now be found for quite cheap, historically it was difficult to produce and associated with wealthy and noble families. It is also commonly found in Buddhist temple meals because of it’s plant-based nature.
KUMONOCHA Kiyomizu Sannenzaka
Japan, ใ605-0862 Kyoto, Higashiyama Ward, ็ฃๅฏงๅๆพๅไธใๅ ฅๆธ ๆฐด3ไธ็ฎ317็ช (Google Maps)
A popular cloud-shaped cake shop, many have seen KUMONOCHA on social media sites like Instagram and TikTok. This shop offers a whimsical interpretation of cake with their signature cloud shaped cakes. These cloud cakes come in different flavors, like matcha and hojicha, but also offers seasonal flavors such as yuzu. KUMONOCHA also serves drink sets with matcha, hojicha, yuzu, and coffee options. With it’s modern take on Japanese traditional design, it’s a great spot to enjoy a cake and rest after walking around the mountain side.
Kiyomizu is a world class destination and you can easily spend a full day exploring all of the temples, shrines, shops, cafes, and restaurants in the area. I highly recommend stopping by on your Kyoto visit!
Interested in learning more about food in other areas of Japan? Check out our articles on Tokyo, Kamakura, Nasushiobara, Nagoya, Hagi, Hiroshima, and Miyajima!
Do you have any other recommendations? Comment them down below!
