Anime in Kyoto

An observation deck atop Mt. Daikichi (Buttoku-san), around 130 m high, overlooking all of Uji and the Byōdō-in. It is the setting for the series' most famous scene: the night Kumiko climbs the mountain and Reina plays the trumpet under the stars. An essential pilgrimage point.

One of the three oldest bridges in Japan, spanning the Uji River. It appears constantly in the series as the axis of the town; the characters cross it and walk its banks again and again.

A Keihan Line station with striking modern architecture and a glass dome, an award-winner in its day. It is the station the characters use and appears repeatedly; one of the series' most recognizable urban backdrops.

A World Heritage temple famous for its Phoenix Hall (the one on the back of the 10-yen coin). It is the monument that defines Uji's skyline and appears as the city's emblematic backdrop in the series.

A World Heritage shrine, considered the oldest surviving in Japan, at the foot of Mt. Daikichi. It marks the start of the path up to the overlook the characters climb and appears along the series' route.

A shrine in southern Uji, famous for the night-time Agata Festival. The lively scene of its festival, with stalls and lanterns, is echoed in the series' summer scenes.

A tree-lined walk along the bank of the Uji River, beside the Byōdō-in, where the characters stroll and the band gathers. One of Uji's everyday corners that the series turns into a tender image. (Approximate location of the area.)

The Arashiyama bridge is the title backdrop of the second opening ("1/2") of the 1996 anime, which is why many fans associate it straight away with the series.

The great Sanmon gate and the brick Suirokaku aqueduct, built to carry Lake Biwa water to Kyoto, appear in the fifth ending of the 1996 anime ("It's gonna rain!" by Bonnie Pink).

This out-of-the-way temple in western Kyoto, with some 1,200 stone statues of the Buddha's disciples (rakan), appears in the fifth ending of the 1996 anime and draws a growing number of foreign fans.

In the story, after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi (January 1868), which began the Boshin War, Kenshin leaves the Restoration side and receives the reverse-blade sword with which he begins his life as a wanderer. The pin marks the monument to the start of the battle.

In the 2012 film, the crime scene the police pin on Kenshin was shot by its earthen wall, and in its bamboo grove Kaoru finds Kenshin after a flashback to the murder.

In the 2012 film, the Tokyo spot where Kenshin first meets Kaoru was shot between the five-storey pagoda and a teahouse of this World Heritage temple.

The main building of the Ōmiya campus, dating from 1879 and an Important Cultural Property, stands in for the Navy Ministry where Yamagata Aritomo gives his speech in the 2012 film.

The covered shopping arcade that Kyoto Animation recreated almost entirely as the Usagiyama market, the heart of the series. The fishmonger that inspired Tamako's shop is still there and keeps notebooks for fans to sign.

The confluence of the Kamo and Takano rivers, with its famous turtle-shaped stepping stones, appears in the series and especially the film as the setting for Tamako and Mochizō's key moments. Steps from the market.

The terminal station of the Keihan line and the Eizan railway, a five-minute walk from the market, is the gateway to the neighbourhood where the story unfolds.

The Uji station building, with its teal roof and clock tower, appears in the club's meet-ups. The starting point of the tour through the town.

The historic bridge over the Uji River, with its balustrades and water views, stars in the series' sunset shots and reflective moments.

The simple single-platform station and its wooden shelter appear in the protagonists' commutes; the nearby bamboo grove matches Kyoto Animation's backgrounds.

At the Rengeō-in (Sanjūsangen-dō), Denshichirō Yoshioka fights to the last to kill Musashi and loses the duel. It is one of the key fights of the Kyoto arc.

The manga's most famous fight: Musashi against the 70 men of the Yoshioka school who come to avenge Seijūrō and Denshichirō. Musashi wins but is left with a badly injured right leg. The current pine is a successor of the original, and there is a statue of Musashi.

A shrine next to the Ichijōji Sagarimatsu that keeps a piece of the original pine and a statue of Musashi. The scene in which Musashi decides not to pray before the fight comes from Eiji Yoshikawa's novel, on which the manga is based.

On the Kyoto trip, Keitarō and Naru take a night walk across this bridge over the Kamo River, known from prints of the end of the Tōkaidō and for its wooden railings. The mountain in the background was added in the drawing.

On the Kyoto trip, Keitarō and Naru visit this Higashiyama temple; the Sannenzaka slope leading up to it and the Yasaka pagoda also appear in those pages.

The Mugen (Infinity) Train is based on the 8620-class steam locomotives. The museum keeps No. 8630 — the closest look-alike, since it has no smoke deflectors — and in an official collaboration in December 2020 it ran on the museum tracks bearing a "無限" (Mugen) plate.

The Fushimi racecourse (Kyoto), home of the Kikuka Shō and the spring Tennō Shō. The setting of memorable races in the series, such as the Kikuka Shō.

The former brick Kyoto branch of the Bank of Japan, now the museum's annex, is the model for the main building of the CH Postal Company where Violet works. It is the easiest of the series' settings to visit.