Katsura Imperial Villa and the Moss Temple
How the Reservation-Only Places of Kyoto Work

Katsura Imperial Villa, Shugakuin Imperial Villa and the Sento Imperial Palace can only be seen on a guided tour with a permit from the Imperial Household Agency. Online applications open at 05:00 on the first day of the month three months before your date and close three days before it, with a lottery when a slot is oversubscribed. Katsura costs ¥1,000 and admits visitors aged 12 and over; Shugakuin and Sento are free and admit only adults of 18 and over. Saiho-ji, the Moss Temple, takes reservations from two months ahead, at ¥4,000 or more, and every visit begins with copying a sutra.

These are the Kyoto places where turning up at the gate does not work, and the rules that decide whether you get in. We checked every fee, time, age limit and application window on the Imperial Household Agency's Kyoto site and its application guidelines, Saiho-ji's official reservation pages, the Cabinet Office page for the Kyoto State Guest House and the Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association's announcement on October 14, 2026. The sources are listed at the end. For the wider picture of what has changed in the city, see Kyoto in 2026 and what still requires an introduction.

---

THE FIVE PLACES AT A GLANCE

The three imperial sites share one set of rules and one calendar. All three close on Mondays, or on Tuesday when Monday is a national holiday, and from December 28 to January 4, and any of them can close for events or operational reasons. None of the tours goes inside the buildings; you see the villas and the palace from the garden paths. Every visitor must show a passport or other government-issued ID at the entrance.

KATSURA IMPERIAL VILLA

Katsura is the one most people mean when they ask about a reservation in Kyoto, and it is the most generous of the three to foreign visitors. It runs its own English tours, for foreign visitors only, at 9:20, 11:20, 13:20, 15:20 and 16:20. The Japanese tours run on the hour from 9:00 to 16:00, and foreign visitors on those tours can borrow a free audio guide in English, Chinese, French, Spanish or Korean while stocks last. The English tours have no audio guide, because the guide speaks English.

Two seasonal details matter. From October to February, the agency does not run the 16:00 and 16:20 tours, so the last English tour in autumn and winter is 15:20. In July and August, to avoid heat illness, it mainly opens the early and late slots: 9:00, 9:20, 10:00, 15:00, 15:20, 16:00 and 16:20, adding others only when those fill.

Numbers and rules

• Capacity is 480 people a day, 20 per tour.
• The tour takes about 60 minutes and covers a path of about 1 km, with stone bridges without handrails, large steps and small hills.
• The fee is ¥1,000 for visitors aged 18 and over. Visitors aged 12 to 17 are free. Children under 12, including infants, are not admitted.
• You can pay in cash, by JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Visa or Mastercard, or with the main IC transport cards such as Suica, PASMO and ICOCA. QR code payment is not accepted.
• Katsura Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line is a 20-minute walk from the East Exit; the Katsura Rikyu-mae bus stop is 15 minutes on foot.

SHUGAKUIN AND THE SENTO PALACE

Shugakuin and Sento are free, and both are closed to anyone under 18. Their tours run only in Japanese, with the same free audio guides in five languages for foreign visitors, again while stocks last.

Shugakuin Imperial Villa

Shugakuin is the longest of the visits: about 80 minutes on a path of about 3 km, with steep slopes, large steps and stone bridges without handrails. Tours start at 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 13:30 and 15:00, and in July and August mainly at 9:00, 10:00 and 15:00. Capacity is 250 a day, 50 per tour. It sits in the northeast of the city, a 20-minute walk from Shugakuin Station on the Eizan line or 15 minutes from the Shugakuin Rikyu-michi bus stop, so plan it as a morning with nothing else across town.

Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace

The Sento Palace lies inside the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden, a 15-minute walk from Marutamachi Station on the Karasuma subway line. Tours start at 9:30, 11:00, 13:30, 14:30 and 15:30, and in July and August mainly at 9:30, 11:00 and 15:30. The visit takes about 60 minutes on a path of about 1 km with stepping stones and large steps. Capacity is 250 a day, 50 per tour.

Because the Sento Palace and the Kyoto Imperial Palace stand in the same park, they pair well in one morning. The Imperial Palace needs no application at all: it is open to walk-in visitors through the year, admission is free, and there are free guided tours in English at 10:00 and 14:00, about 50 minutes long, with no registration. Bags are checked at the Seishomon Gate. It follows the same Monday and New Year closures, and can close at short notice for court functions or visiting dignitaries.

HOW THE IMPERIAL APPLICATIONS WORK

There are three ways in, and they open at different times.

Online three months ahead

Online applications open at 05:00 Japan time on the first day of the month three months before your visit, and close at 23:59 three days before it. The agency's own example: for November 10, you can apply from 05:00 on August 1 until 23:59 on November 7. If more people apply for a slot than it holds, there is a lottery, and the result arrives by email within three working days. If you are chosen, the email carries a permit number, which you show on the day, printed or as a screenshot. You cannot change the date after you submit.

Each application has one main applicant and up to three companions, so a party of four fits on one form. The agency asks for the name, age and nationality of everyone, and a phone number and email address for the main applicant.

In person at the Kyoto Office

The Kyoto Office of the Imperial Household Agency, inside the Kyoto Gyoen, also takes applications in person, from the same first day of the month three months ahead until one day before the visit. The agency notes that a permit may not be available. Each person applying must show ID. The office is open 8:40 to 17:00 and follows the same Monday and New Year closures.

On the day at the gate

Each site keeps a share of places for walk-in registration, and adds any places left over from advance applications. Reception opens at 8:40 at the entrance, and numbered tickets with a tour time are handed out first come, first served until they run out. ID is required. The daily walk-in allowance is 70 at Katsura, 10 per tour, and 50 each at Shugakuin and Sento, 10 per tour. At Katsura, walk-in places are for the Japanese tours only, at 9:00 to 15:00 on the hour, so the English tours can only be secured in advance.

Why we do not apply for you here

The agency's guidelines are explicit that applications by proxy, travel agents or related industries are not accepted. So for these three sites the application has to be yours, in your name. What we do is everything around it. We tell you the exact date and time the window opens for your travel dates, with the details the form will ask for written out for each person in your party, and which tours to choose so that the visit fits the rest of the day. Once you have the permit number, we build the day around it: the car to Katsura or Shugakuin, lunch, and what comes after. If the lottery does not go your way, we plan a morning at the gate for a walk-in place, or move the garden to a day with more room.

SAIHO-JI THE MOSS TEMPLE

Saiho-ji has limited visits to small numbers by reservation since 1977. Its standard visit, called Nichi-nichi Sanpai, begins in the main hall, where you copy a short sutra with brush and ink before you are free to walk the moss garden. The whole visit takes about 60 minutes. The sutra is the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo, 49 characters long, and the temple says the copying takes about 15 minutes. You may take your copy home, or hand it to the staff as an offering. The temple does not accept visits only to see the garden; if a guest has a particular reason not to copy the sutra, it asks you to tell the staff on the day.

Reserving online

• Reservations open two months before the visit and close at 23:59 Japan time the day before.
• The admission is ¥4,000 or more per person, paid by credit card when you reserve, plus a system fee of ¥110 per person, which is not refunded.
• Each reservation is for up to two people. A party of three or four needs a second account; the temple asks groups of five or more not to visit.
• Visitors must be 13 or older on the day. The temple holds child-friendly days a few times a year for younger children.
• The date and time cannot be changed. To move it, you cancel and book again. Cancelling up to four days before is free, three days to one day before costs 50%, and on the day 100%.

By post

The temple still accepts applications by airmail from abroad, received between two months and one month before the visit, and by return postcard from within Japan in the same window. Admission is then paid in cash at reception on the day. It asks you to list several possible dates, and it sends a certificate to bring on the day.

On the day

Photographs are allowed in the garden from the paths; tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are not, and nothing may be photographed inside the hall, including the view out of it. Eating is not allowed, and only drinks with lids may be brought in. There are chairs for some guests in the hall, which cannot be reserved. The garden paths have steps and gravel and are not suitable for wheelchairs. The upper dry garden is not part of the standard visit. The temple's own guidance gives about 30 minutes from Kyoto Station by taxi, and taxis stop about 100 m before the gate.

Unlike the imperial sites, Saiho-ji allows a reservation on someone else's behalf, provided the visitor is told the rules of the visit and the person reserving registers their own account. We arrange the visit for you in your names on that basis, and send you the rules in English before the day.

OTHER PLACES IN KYOTO THAT NEED BOOKING AHEAD

Kyoto State Guest House

The Kyoto State Guest House, run by the Cabinet Office in the Kyoto Gyoen, is open to the public through the year except when it is receiving official guests. Guided tours run in Japanese and English and cost ¥2,000 for adults, ¥1,500 for university students and ¥700 for junior and senior high school students. Children of elementary school age and younger are not admitted. Advance reservations are made on its website, first come, first served, and any tour places left are handed out as same-day slips from 9:30 at the Seiwain Rest House. Opening hours are 9:30 to 17:00, with last admission at 15:30, and it publishes its opening schedule one month at a time; November 2026 was fixed on September 30. A visit at short notice by a foreign dignitary can cancel a public day.

The autumn special opening of 2026

Each autumn, the Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association opens cultural properties that are normally closed. The 62nd opening, this autumn, covers 32 places across Kyoto Prefecture. Most need no reservation: the association states that individuals do not book ahead and only groups of 15 or more should contact it first. Admission at each place is ¥1,000 for adults and ¥500 for junior and senior high school students, and reception runs 9:00 to 16:00 unless a place states otherwise. The places in Kyoto City and their dates:

• Reizei-ke, the residence of the Reizei family: October 30 to November 3.
• To-ji, the Lecture Hall and the Five-Storey Pagoda: October 31 to November 8, reception 8:00 to 16:30, ¥1,200 for adults.
• Shingyo-ji: October 31 to November 9.
• Chion-in, the Sanmon gate: October 31 to November 13.
• Kamigamo Shrine, Shimogamo Shrine and the Omotesenke Kitayama Kaikan, opening for the first time: October 31 to December 6. The Kitayama Kaikan receives visitors from 9:30 to 16:00.
• Rinsho-in, within Myoshin-ji: November 3 to December 6.
• Kyusho-in, within Kennin-ji: November 13 to 30.
• Seigan-ji and Hozo-ji: November 20 to 29.
• Rozan-ji: November 20 to December 6.
• Koun-ji: November 28 to December 6.

Further out, in Maizuru, Matsuo-dera's opening from November 14 to 23 is the one place on the list that requires a reservation in advance, made directly with the temple; we handle that for you. The dates of the next spring opening are not yet announced.

HOW TO BUILD A TRIP AROUND THEM

Start from the windows and work forward. The imperial sites open three months ahead and Saiho-ji two, so for a trip in late March, the imperial applications open on December 1 and Saiho-ji in late January. These are usually the last things to fall into place, after the hotel. Our order for booking a Japan trip shows where they sit among the rest.

• Avoid Mondays for any imperial site, and keep a Tuesday free if a holiday falls on the Monday.
• Put Katsura and Saiho-ji on different days. Both are in the west of the city and both reward an unhurried morning.
• From October to February, the last English tour at Katsura is 15:20.
• Check the ages. A family with a 12-year-old can see Katsura together, but not Shugakuin or Sento, and the State Guest House admits no children of elementary school age.
• Bring every passport. Each person is checked at the gate.

Autumn is the hardest season for every place in this article. If your dates are flexible, our comparison of cherry blossom and autumn leaves covers what each season gives up and what it asks of you. For the Saiho-ji visit itself, the general rules of temple conduct apply; we cover them in Japan etiquette for luxury travellers.

STAYGO plans and arranges private trips across Japan from Tokyo. The Signature plan is USD 3,500 for your group, for trips of 7 to 14 days. We take no markup and no commission; you pay the hotels, restaurants and hosts directly at their own rates, and the imperial sites and Saiho-ji at the fees above.

SOURCES AND HOW WE CHECKED

Every fee, time, age limit and booking window above comes from the official pages below, which we read on October 14, 2026. The imperial tour details come from the agency's English application guidelines for each site. Rules can change at short notice, so we check them again for your dates before you apply.

• Imperial Household Agency, Katsura Imperial Villa application guidelines: tours, English times, fee, age, capacity, application windows, walk-in, proxy rule
• Imperial Household Agency, Shugakuin Imperial Villa application guidelines: tours, fee, age, length, capacity
• Imperial Household Agency, Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace application guidelines: tours, fee, age, length, capacity
• Kyoto Imperial Palace and Villas, Katsura visit page: English tour times
• Kyoto Imperial Palace and Villas, Kyoto Imperial Palace visit page: no application, free, English tours
• Imperial Household Agency, application process: lottery and permit number
• Saiho-ji, Nichi-nichi Sanpai: what the visit involves, party size
• Saiho-ji, online reservations: window, fee, age, cancellation
• Saiho-ji, reservation by airmail or postcard: postal window and payment
• Saiho-ji, FAQ: proxy reservations, photography, access
• Saiho-ji, copying sutras: the sutra and how long it takes
• Kyoto State Guest House, about visiting: reservations, hours, same-day slips
• Kyoto State Guest House, admission fees: fees and age
• Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association, 62nd special opening: places, dates, fees, reservations (in Japanese)

QUESTIONS ABOUT KYOTO RESERVATIONS

How far in advance can I book Katsura Imperial Villa?

Online applications open at 05:00 Japan time on the first day of the month three months before your visit and close at 23:59 three days before it. For a visit on November 10, that means from August 1 to November 7.

Can a travel agent or hotel book the imperial villas for me?

No. The Imperial Household Agency states that applications by proxy, travel agents or related industries are not accepted, so the main applicant applies in their own name for up to four people in total.

Is there an English tour at Katsura Imperial Villa?

Yes, at 9:20, 11:20, 13:20, 15:20 and 16:20, for foreign visitors only, and only through advance application. The 16:20 tour does not run from October to February.

Can I visit the Moss Temple without copying a sutra?

Saiho-ji does not accept visits only to see the garden, and every standard visit begins with sutra copying in the main hall. If you have a particular reason you cannot take part, the temple asks you to tell its staff on the day.

Can children visit Kyoto's imperial villas?

Katsura admits visitors from age 12, free until 17. Shugakuin and the Sento Imperial Palace admit only visitors aged 18 and over.