Rokkaku-do
Shijo-Karasuma, Kyoto
- Daily
- 6:00 to 17:00
The temple office, for goshuin stamps, opens 8:30 to 17:00. Hours change during the special night opening in mid-March.
Source: ikenobo.jp, checked 11 Oct 2026.
Rokkaku-do, formally Choho-ji, is a small temple a block off Karasuma-dori, named for its six-sided main hall (the one standing now was rebuilt in 1877). Its priests, the Ikenobo line, shaped ikebana here in the 1400s. Just inside the gate, look for the hexagonal heso-ishi, the 'navel stone', named because Kyoto once thought of this spot as its centre.
Insider tip
The grounds are free and open from 6:00, so it's an easy stop before breakfast. One of the three lifts in the ten-storey building just south of the Ikenobo Kaikan is a viewing lift, and it's how you see the six-sided roof from above. In mid-November the Ikenobo national ikebana show opens the practice hall in the grounds.
What's on near Rokkaku-do
Upcoming events within a ten-minute walk of Rokkaku-do, from the weekly Kyoto events calendar.
Medalist Exhibition
メダリスト展
Time 10:00 to 18:00, Fridays to 19:30 (last entry 30 min before) Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 3 min walk from exit 5
An exhibition on Tsurumaikada's figure skating manga Medalist, with new illustrations drawn for it, famous scenes from the manga, sets that recreate its world and picks from the TV anime. It fills the museum's third and fourth floor galleries.
Photograph by Mike Peel www.mikepeel.net., CC BY-SA 4.0 KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival 2027
KYOTOGRAPHIE 京都国際写真祭 2027
Time Hours and closing days vary by venue Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line)
A month of photography shows in machiya, galleries, museums and temples around the city, in exhibition spaces designed with architects and craftspeople. The 2027 theme, artists and venues are still to be announced.
Gion Matsuri Float Procession, Hanagasa Parade and Kanko-sai (second procession)
祇園祭 後祭山鉾巡行・花傘巡行・還幸祭
Time Floats and Hanagasa from 9:30, mikoshi from about 16:00 Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 1 min walk
The second procession, revived in 2014, leaves Karasuma-Oike at 9:30 and runs the first route the other way. The Hanagasa parade sets off from Shimogyo Junior High for the Otabisho and Yasaka Shrine, and from about 16:00 the mikoshi go back to the shrine.
Kan'ei: Beauty Nurtured by Peace
特別展「寛永 太平がはぐくむ美」
Time 10:00 to 18:00, Fridays to 19:30 (last entry 30 minutes before) Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 3 min walk
Marking 400 years since Emperor Go-Mizunoo's visit to Nijo Castle, the museum shows the Kan'ei culture of Hon'ami Koetsu, Tawaraya Sotatsu and Nonomura Ninsei, with scrolls and screens of the imperial procession and a Kano Sanraku hawk painting from Nijo Castle. It's closed on Mondays (open 12 Oct) and 13 Oct, and the ticket covers the permanent galleries too.
Photograph by Mike Peel www.mikepeel.net., CC BY-SA 4.0 The Indomitable Power of Go Nagai
令和6年能登半島地震復興祈念 不滅の力 永井豪 -永井豪記念館リバイバル-
Time 10:00 to 18:00, Fridays to 19:30 (last entry 30 minutes before) Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 3 min walk
When the 2024 Noto earthquake burned the Go Nagai Memorial Museum in Wajima, 108 original drawings and figures by the creator of Mazinger Z, Devilman and Cutie Honey were found intact inside. They're shown here with original manuscripts and a new manga he drew for the show, and the museum is closed on Mondays (open 11 Jan) and from 28 Dec to 4 Jan.
Photograph by Mike Peel www.mikepeel.net., CC BY-SA 4.0 Nearby
Around Shijo-Karasuma
Kyoto's old bank corner, with kimono streets one block back
Shijo-Karasuma is the crossing where the subway meets the Hankyu line from Osaka, and by 1915 three of the big banks stood on it. It doesn't look much like the Kyoto on the posters. Walk one block west, though, and you're on Muromachi-dori, the old kimono wholesalers' street, near the lanes where the Gion Matsuri floats are built every July.
Shijo-Karasuma has 16 places on the Roam Kyoto map: 4 shops, 3 shrines and temples, 3 cafes, 3 museums, 1 restaurant, 1 bar and 1 neighbourhood. Read the Shijo-Karasuma guide.
Good to know
- What is the address of Rokkaku-do?
- Rokkaku-dori Higashinotoin Nishi-iru, Donomaecho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto (in Japanese: 京都市中京区六角通東洞院西入堂之前町).
- What are the opening hours of Rokkaku-do?
- Daily 6:00 to 17:00. The temple office, for goshuin stamps, opens 8:30 to 17:00. Hours change during the special night opening in mid-March.
- How do I get to Rokkaku-do?
- The nearest station is Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line). Rokkaku-do is in Shijo-Karasuma, Kyoto.
- How much does Rokkaku-do cost?
- Nothing. Rokkaku-do is free to visit.
- How long do you need at Rokkaku-do?
- Plan for 20 min.
- When is the best time to visit Rokkaku-do?
- Early morning.
Stay near Rokkaku-do
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