✨ Rurikōin Temple 瑠璃光院

This is maybe one of those places that can get so touristy in Kyoto, but I really think it's worth seeing (and the crowds) at least once in your life. A former Meiji-era nobleman's villa at the foot of Mt. Hiei in Kyoto's remote Yase district, Rurikōin Temple 瑠璃光院 was converted into a Pure Land Buddhist temple in 2005. Open in the spring, summer, and fall, on the second floor of the temple's shoin (or a traditional Japanese study or reception room), is a vast lacquered black table that you've...