Ninenzaka - The Gentler Slope

Photo: Domenico Convertini from Zurich, Schweiz, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on Kyoto: Higashiyama and Gion on Foot, a free self-guided tour.

Ninenzaka is Sannenzaka's little sister: about 150 meters of stone paving and a few shallow steps between wooden shopfronts. The name means "two-year slope." Some say it records the year it was built; others that it is simply the smaller companion of its neighbor. The legend tagged along, too - folk wisdom says a fall here leaves you two years.

Together, the two slopes were among the first districts in Japan placed under national protection, in 1976, which is why you see so few modern facades. Many buildings are machiya that now hold tea rooms, sweet shops and craft stores, with homes still tucked behind and above.

This is a good place for the food side of the walk. Sample matcha sweets or a cup of tea, but eat at the shop or on its bench; walking while eating is considered poor manners in Kyoto, and many shops ask you not to leave with food in hand.

Getting here: Walk back uphill to the junction at the foot of Sannenzaka and turn left onto Ninenzaka, the flatter lane heading north.

Did you know?: One townhouse here, about a century old, has been a Starbucks since 2017. It has no glass storefront, just a noren curtain with a discreet logo, and upstairs you take off your shoes to sit in tatami rooms - billed at opening as the chain's first anywhere.

Photo op: Partway along, stand to the side and frame the stepped lane with its shop curtains; looking back south, the Yasaka Pagoda often peeks over the rooftops.

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Ninenzaka - The Gentler Slope

Stops on this tour