Arashiyama (嵐山 Storm Mountain) is a district on the western outskirts of Kyoto, Japan. It also refers to the mountain across the Ōi River.

There’s lots to see and do here, we stayed a whole day and had to choose only a few of the many sights to see in the time we had.

The most well know is probably the Bamboo Forest.

The main temple is Tenryū-ji (天龍寺)—more formally known as Tenryū Shiseizen-ji (天龍資聖禅寺)— It is the head temple of the Tenryū branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism and was completed in 1345! Although after many fires most of the current building was constructed after 1865.

The Moon Crossing Bridge

The Iwatayama Monkey Park on the slopes of Arashiyama. Over 170 monkeys live at the park. While the monkeys are wild, they have become accustomed to humans. It was quite a walk to the top of the hill which had fantastic views over Kyoto.

A Kimono Forest

Another big day – A great place to spend it