Kyoto Station: the atrium and the two Hongan-ji
A vast steel-and-glass station, two of Japan's largest temple halls, and a borrowed-scenery garden. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Hara's atrium
Start inside the station Hiroshi Hara finished in 1997 — a fifteen-storey canyon of steel and glass that scandalised a city of low temples when it opened. Stand at the bottom of the *Daikaidan*, the great staircase, and look up; the roof is a single curved sweep over the whole concourse.

2. The rooftop Skyway and garden
Escalators climb the east side to the eleventh-floor *Skyway*, a glazed bridge across the void, and out to the *Daikaidan* roof terrace. Free, often empty, and the one place to see the city ringed by its mountains with the pagoda of To-ji to the south-west. Worth the ride even if you go straight back down.

3. Higashi Hongan-ji
North across the broad avenue to the *Higashi* (east) temple of the Jodo Shinshu sect — the *Goeido*, its founder's hall, is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. Step inside onto the tatami; the scale only registers once you're under the roof. Free, and rarely crowded for its size.

4. Shosei-en garden
The detached garden east of Higashi Hongan-ji, a pond stroll laid out in the 1600s and walled off from the traffic completely. A small donation at the gate. The borrowed view of the Higashiyama hills, the tea pavilions over the water — the quiet heart of the whole walk.

5. Nishi Hongan-ji
West to the rival *Nishi* temple, the older and more decorated of the two, its *Goeido* and *Amidado* halls facing a gravel court. Look for the gingko said to be four hundred years old and the lavish *Karamon* gate around the side, gilded and carved to the point of excess. A World Heritage site, and free.

6. Shomen-dori back to the station
Walk back south down *Shomen-dori*, the old approach lined with Buddhist-supply shops — incense, altar fittings, monks' robes — a trade that has clustered here for centuries. It feeds you back toward the station front, where the walk began and the trains wait.

Kyoto Station: the atrium and the two Hongan-ji