Tofuku-ji

東福寺

Zen temple with a bridge over a maple valley

⚠ Bridge fee up in autumn

Hours

Nov–first Sunday of Dec 8:30–16:30; then 9:00–16:00 until March (last entry 30 min before)

Tickets

Bridge and Kaisando ¥600 (¥1,000 in leaf season); Hojo garden ¥500

Address

778 Honmachi 15-chome, Higashiyama-ku

Tsutenkyo is a roofed wooden bridge slung across a gorge, and looking down from it you see the tops of nearly two thousand maples. In mid-November people stand shoulder to shoulder on it. Behind the main hall, the Hojo gardens were laid out in 1939 by Shigemori Mirei, modern Zen design with a checkerboard of moss that's the best-known corner. Come outside the leaf season and the place goes quiet.