Nishiki is 'Kyoto's kitchen', and this is the walk that earns the title — the covered market, the two arcades that spill off it, and a scholars' shrine wedged between the fishmongers. Under three kilometres, almost entirely under cover, which makes it the walk to keep for a wet morning. Go before eleven, before the market fills.
Start at the Karasuma end of Nishiki and work east: pickles in wooden tubs, tako-tamago on sticks, knives at Aritsugu ground while you watch. The market is narrow and slow; let it be. At the far end, Nishiki Tenmangu sits squarely in the arcade, lanterns overhead and a bronze ox worn smooth by hands rubbing it for luck.
Turn north into the Teramachi and Shinkyogoku arcades — two shotengai (covered shopping streets) running parallel, one calm and antiquarian, one loud and young, both hiding small temples between the shops. Walk one up, the other down. Where they meet Sanjo-dori, the Meiji brick begins; follow it east to the Kamo and the Keihan line at Sanjo.
