Jingo-ji

This mountaintop temple is one of our favourites in all of Kyoto. It sits at the top of a long flight of stairs that stretch from the Kiyotaki-gawa to the temple’s main gate. The Kondō (Gold Hall) is the most impressive of the temple’s structures, located roughly in the middle of the grounds at the top of another flight of stairs. After visiting the Kondō, head in the opposite direction along a wooded path to an open area overlooking the valley. Here you’ll see people tossing small disks over the railing into the chasm below. These are kawarakenage, light clay disks that people throw in order to rid themselves of their bad karma. Be careful, it’s addictive and at ¥100 for two it can get expensive (you can buy the disks at a nearby stall). The trick is to flick the disks very gently, convex side up, like a Frisbee. When you get it right, they sail all the way down the valley – taking all that bad karma with them (try not to think about the hikers down below).