Eikando Temple Kyoto Hours 2026 (Nov 20–Dec 6): Fees, Access, Crowds

You reach Eikando at 4:30 p.m. planning to stay for the lit-up maples, and at closing time you are walked out with everyone else: in autumn, the day visit and the night light-up are two separate tickets. Here are the Eikando temple Kyoto hours for autumn 2026, what each ticket costs, and how to get in and out without the worst of the crush.

Fee change: Eikando revised its admission fees in 2026. The regular adult fee became ¥1,000 from April 1, 2026, and the autumn prices changed this year too.

Eikando temple Kyoto hours and entrance fee 2026

The Autumn Night Illumination runs from November 20 to December 6, 2026. Tickets are sold from 17:30 to 20:30, and the gate closes at 21:00. Night admission is ¥1,000 for everyone of junior high school age and older.

By day, the Autumn Treasure Exhibition runs from November 11 to December 6, 2026, with reception from 9:00 to 16:00 and the gate closing at 17:00. Daytime tickets cost ¥1,500 for adults, ¥1,000 for university and vocational school students and ¥800 for junior high and high school students.

Day and night are run as separate sessions, so you cannot stay on from the exhibition into the light-up. Doing both means two tickets (¥2,500 for an adult) and at least 30 minutes outside between the 17:00 closing and the 17:30 reopening.

The tickets also cover different things. The day ticket includes the exhibition, Amida-do and the other halls, and the garden; the night ticket covers Amida-do and the garden. The 2026 exhibition shows Important Cultural Properties such as the Descent of the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas, the Painting of the Ten Realms and the Taima Mandala Engi.

Information rechecked on November 4, 2026, against the official Eikando pages.

Getting to Eikando and getting back

Going: From Kyoto Station, Keihan Sanjo Station or Hankyu Kyoto Kawaramachi Station, take City Bus No. 5 to Nanzenji-Eikando-michi and walk 3 minutes. By subway, get off the Tozai Line at Keage Station and walk 15 minutes. From Keihan Jingu-Marutamachi Station, buses No. 204 and No. 93 run to Higashi Tenno-cho, an 8-minute walk away.

Do not plan to drive. During the season, private cars, motorbikes and electric kick scooters cannot enter or park; the nearest public lot, Okazaki Park Parking, is about a 20-minute walk away.

Getting back: The last night tickets are sold at 20:30 and the gate shuts at 21:00. Reverse your route: 3 minutes on foot to Nanzenji-Eikando-michi for bus No. 5 back toward Sanjo, Kawaramachi and Kyoto Station, or 15 minutes on foot to Keage for the Tozai Line. When the bus stop is packed at closing time, the subway walk is the more predictable choice.

The Looking-back Amida: why the Amida-do approach goes quiet

Before dawn on February 15, 1082, the monk Eikan (1033–1111) was circling a statue of Amida in Amida-do while reciting the nenbutsu, which he is recorded as chanting 60,000 times a day. In the temple's legend, the statue stepped down from its dais, walked ahead of him, then looked back over its left shoulder and said, "Eikan, stop dawdling." Eikan asked it to keep that pose, and the Mikaeri Amida (Looking-back Amida) has stayed at Eikando ever since.

The statue later became a celebrity. In the mid-Edo period it appeared in Kyoto guidebooks and grew so famous that it was taken to Osaka and Edo for public display, raising money for the temple's upkeep. Amida-do is on the night route as well, so after dark you still walk into the hall where the story began.

Crowds and rules in the Eikando garden

The temple warns of very heavy crowds during the season, especially in the second half of November, and says it may close reception early to ease congestion. No advance tickets are sold for the exhibition or the light-up: you buy on the day, and the ticket is valid that day only.

So timing is your only tool. Choose a weekday over a late-November weekend, do not count on the 20:30 cut-off, and check the Eikando crowd forecast before you set out.

Some parts are closed this season. The Garyuro covered corridor is closed from November 11 to December 6, Senbutsu-do is closed, and the Tahoto pagoda may close because of crowds or bad weather.

Tripods and monopods are banned in the grounds, selfie sticks are banned inside the halls and discouraged in the grounds when crowded, and photographing the cultural properties inside the halls is not allowed. Eating, drinking, smoking and pets are not permitted in the grounds.

Eikando, Nanzen-ji and the Philosopher's Path: tips before you go

Kyoto's official travel site lists Nanzen-ji, the Philosopher's Path and Ginkaku-ji among Eikando's nearby destinations. An easy autumn day: Nanzen-ji and a stroll on the Philosopher's Path in the afternoon, an early dinner, then the Eikando light-up once it opens at 17:30.

• Day and night need two tickets. The exhibition and the light-up are separate admissions.
• Bring a shoe bag. The temple asks visitors to bring a shoe bag or plastic bag to cut plastic waste.
• Goshuin at night. During the light-up, a pre-written goshuin costs ¥500 at the ticket window.
• Bring cash. The official pages checked for this guide do not mention card payment, so carry yen for tickets and the goshuin.
• Dress warmly. Evening visits run until 21:00 in late November and early December, and you may wait outside before entering.
• Leave the tripod at the hotel. It is banned in the grounds.

Want to time your visit to peak colour, or carry the maple nights on to Tokyo? These two guides pick up where this one ends.

Same city, same seasonKyoto autumn leaves forecast: when each temple peaks

Next stopTokyo autumn light-ups: garden night tickets

Will you go for the daytime exhibition, the night light-up, or both?