Yamadamatsu Kobokuten
Imperial Palace, Kyoto
- Daily
- 10:30 to 17:00
- 3rd Sun
- Closed
Closed at Obon and New Year.
Source: yamadamatsu.co.jp, checked 11 Oct 2026.
Yamadamatsu has been an incense wood specialist since the Edo period, and its main shop is on Muromachi-dori, west of the palace. Besides fragrant woods you'll find incense shaped like Kyoto's seasonal flowers, cream incense and an electric burner for warming incense wood.
Insider tip
Book a monko session by the day before (not Sundays or holidays) to learn incense listening, ¥2,750 at 15:00 for about 50 minutes. You can also blend your own scent sachet for ¥2,200. The shop closes on the third Sunday of the month.
What's on near Yamadamatsu Kobokuten
Upcoming events within a ten-minute walk of Yamadamatsu Kobokuten, from the weekly Kyoto events calendar.
Cherry Festival at the Old Kyoto Prefectural Office
京都府庁旧本館 観桜祭
Time 10:00 to 17:00, light-up 18:00 to 20:00 to 5 April Station Marutamachi (Karasuma Line), 10 min walk
Seven cherries fill the courtyard of the old prefectural office, an Important Cultural Property, among them a grandchild of Maruyama Park's first weeping cherry and the rare Katamori-zakura. It's lit up in the evenings for the first week.
J o, CC BY-SA 3.0 Inoko-sai at Goo Shrine
亥子祭
Time From 17:00 Station Marutamachi (Karasuma Line), 6 min walk
Goo Shrine, guarded by stone boars, re-creates a Heian court custom in which inoko rice cakes are pounded and carried to the Imperial Palace by a procession in court dress, then shared with visitors back at the shrine. You can join the procession in a boar-crested jacket for an offering of ¥1,000 or more on the day.
Brakeet, CC0 1.0 Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages)
時代祭
Time Leaves the Imperial Palace 12:00, Karasuma Oike about 12:50, Heian Shrine about 14:30 Station Marutamachi or Imadegawa (Karasuma Line)
Heian Shrine's festival is a 2 km costume parade of about 2,000 people, 70 horses and two oxen, walking back through history from the Meiji Restoration loyalists to the Heian court, and it leaves the Imperial Palace at noon. Paid seats are set up in the palace grounds, on Oike-dori and on Jingu-michi, and rain moves it to 23 Oct.
DavideGorla, CC BY 2.0 Kan'ei Imperial Procession Re-enactment (400th Anniversary)
寛永行幸四百年祭 行幸行列再現
Time Leaves Kenreimon about 12:30, reaches Nijo Castle east gate about 15:00 Station Marutamachi or Imadegawa (Karasuma Line)
About 330 people re-create Emperor Go-Mizunoo's 1626 procession to Nijo Castle in three groups, led by Empress Masako, the shogun Iemitsu and the emperor, with court musicians, walking about 3 km from the palace's Kenreimon gate. It goes ahead in light rain but not heavy rain, and Nijo Castle's last entry that day is at noon.
DavideGorla, CC BY 2.0 Jidai Matsuri
時代祭
Time Procession from 12:00 Station Marutamachi or Imadegawa (Karasuma Line)
About 2,000 Kyoto people in costume from the city's thousand years as capital form a 2-kilometre procession, running back in time from the Meiji Restoration to the Heian period. It leaves the Imperial Palace at 12:00 for Heian Shrine and takes about two hours to pass, there are paid seats in Kyoto Gyoen, on Oike-dori and on Jingu-michi, and rain moves it to the next day.
DavideGorla, CC BY 2.0 Nearby
Around Imperial Palace
Free palace walks, a park that never shuts, and the court's old shops
Kyoto Gyoen, a park 1.3 km long in central Kyoto, never closes. The Kyoto Imperial Palace sits inside it, and you can walk round it for free without booking. Around the edges you'll find Shokoku-ji (head of the Zen branch that takes in Kinkaku-ji), the house site where The Tale of Genji was written, and shops that once supplied the court.
Imperial Palace has 23 places on the Roam Kyoto map: 6 shrines and temples, 5 landmarks, 3 museums, 2 cafes, 2 restaurants, 2 shops, 2 parks and gardens and 1 bar. Read the Imperial Palace guide.
Good to know
- What is the address of Yamadamatsu Kobokuten?
- 164 Kageyukoji-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto (in Japanese: 京都市上京区勘解由小路町164).
- What are the opening hours of Yamadamatsu Kobokuten?
- Daily 10:30 to 17:00; Closed 3rd Sun. Closed at Obon and New Year.
- How do I get to Yamadamatsu Kobokuten?
- The nearest station is Marutamachi (Karasuma Line). Yamadamatsu Kobokuten is in Imperial Palace, Kyoto.
- How much does Yamadamatsu Kobokuten cost?
- Yamadamatsu Kobokuten is cheap, marked ¥ on the site's price scale.
- How long do you need at Yamadamatsu Kobokuten?
- Plan for 30 min.
- When is the best time to visit Yamadamatsu Kobokuten?
- Afternoons, for the 15:00 class.
Stay near Yamadamatsu Kobokuten
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