Hakusasonso
Ginkakuji, Kyoto
- Daily
- 10:00 to 17:00
Last entry 16:00. Hours can change with the season, and some rooms close while exhibitions are changed.
Source: hakusasonso.jp, checked 11 Oct 2026.
The house, studios and garden of Hashimoto Kansetsu (1883 to 1945), a Nihonga painter who built the place over about 32 years from 1913 and moved in in 1916. The pond garden he designed covers 7,400 square metres of the 10,000 square metre estate, is a national Place of Scenic Beauty and is set with stone carvings from the Heian to Kamakura periods. A museum on the grounds shows his paintings.
Insider tip
Entry is ¥1,300 for the garden and museum together (students ¥500, high school and younger free), and special exhibitions cost more. From the garden you can see the Higashiyama hills where the Daimonji fire burns in August. Kansetsu also gave the Philosopher's Path its 360 cherry trees in 1922.
What's on near Hakusasonso
Upcoming events within a ten-minute walk of Hakusasonso, from the weekly Kyoto events calendar.
Ginkaku-ji Autumn Special Opening of the Togudo
銀閣寺 秋の特別公開 国宝 東求堂
Time Guided visits at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:30, 14:30 and 15:30 (about 30 minutes) Station Ginkakuji-michi bus stop (City Bus 5, 7), 10 min walk
Ginkaku-ji opens its main hall and the National Treasure Togudo, whose four-and-a-half-mat study, Dojinsai, is where tea, flower and incense culture took shape, on guided visits of about 20 people, in Japanese only. Sign the sheet in front of the main hall about an hour before your slot, and it's ¥2,000 on top of the usual ¥1,000 entry.
Reginald Pentinio, CC BY 2.0 Ginkaku-ji Spring Special Viewing of the Togudo
銀閣寺 春の特別拝観 国宝東求堂
Time Tours at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:30, 14:30 and 15:30 Station Ginkakuji-michi bus stop (City Bus 5, 7, 203)
A guided 30-minute visit inside the main hall and the Togudo, whose four-and-a-half-mat study, Dojinsai, is seen as the starting point of tea, flower arranging and incense. Groups are capped and you can't take photos.
Reginald Pentinio, CC BY 2.0 Pumpkin Memorial at Anraku-ji
鹿ケ谷カボチャ供養（安楽寺）
Time 9:00 to 15:00 Station Kinrinshako-mae bus stop (City Bus 5), 7 min walk
For about 230 years this small temple near the Philosopher's Path has served simmered Shishigatani pumpkin on 25 July, from a revelation that eating it in midsummer keeps strokes away. Entry is ¥1,000 that day with the pumpkin included, the temple's scrolls are on show, and Kyoto vegetables are sold at the gate.
Honen-in Spring Opening
春季 伽藍内特別公開（法然院）
Time 9:30 to 16:00 Station Kinrin-shako-mae bus stop (City Bus 5)
The temple's buildings, normally closed, open for a week in spring (and again in autumn), when the three famous camellias in the inner garden are out.
Tetsuhiro Terada, CC BY 2.0 Ojuya Nembutsu Services at Shinnyo-do
お十夜（十日十夜別事念仏会）
Time 15 Nov: procession 14:00, closing service 17:00 Station Kinrin Shako-mae bus stop (City Bus 5)
For ten nights the main Amida statue is unveiled and a white cord tied to its hand runs out to a post in front of the hall, and touching the cord is said to carry your wish straight to the Buddha. On the last day, 15 Nov, there's a procession of children and monks at 14:00, close-up viewing of the statue from 9:00 and free azuki bean porridge.
KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0 Nearby
Around Ginkakuji
Temple gardens along a canal path, under the Daimonji hill
Get to Ginkaku-ji for its 8:30 opening, because the temple fills up as the day goes on. Then walk south on the Philosopher's Path, about 1.8 km of stone path beside a branch of the Lake Biwa Canal, and turn off it for the temples on either side. Honen-in's grounds open at 6:00, and you don't pay to go in.
Ginkakuji has 15 places on the Roam Kyoto map: 7 shrines and temples, 2 museums, 2 restaurants, 1 viewpoint, 1 shop, 1 neighbourhood and 1 bathhouse. Read the Ginkakuji guide.
Good to know
- What is the address of Hakusasonso?
- 37 Jodoji Ishibashi-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto (in Japanese: 京都市左京区浄土寺石橋町37).
- What are the opening hours of Hakusasonso?
- Daily 10:00 to 17:00. Last entry 16:00. Hours can change with the season, and some rooms close while exhibitions are changed.
- How do I get to Hakusasonso?
- The nearest station is Ginkakuji-michi bus stop (City Bus 5, 17). Hakusasonso is in Ginkakuji, Kyoto.
- How much does Hakusasonso cost?
- Hakusasonso is cheap, marked ¥ on the site's price scale.
- How long do you need at Hakusasonso?
- Plan for 1 hour.
- When is the best time to visit Hakusasonso?
- Weekday mornings.
Stay near Hakusasonso
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