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Our guide
Gion, in Kyoto's Higashiyama ward, began in the Sengoku period as an entertainment district in front of Yasaka Shrine, serving travellers and visitors to the shrine, and grew into one of the most exclusive and best-known geisha districts in Japan. Kyoto's geisha call themselves geiko rather than geisha: where geisha means “person of the arts”, geiko means more directly “woman of the arts”. The name Gion itself is the Japanese form, by way of Chinese, of the Buddhist name Jetavana.
Gion-Shijō Station on the Keihan Line is about 300 m away in a straight line. Much of eastern Kyoto is within walking distance: Yasaka Shrine is about 0.3 km away, Kōdai-ji 0.6 km, Nishiki Market and Chion-in 0.8 km, and Kiyomizu-dera 1.3 km.
Written by japan-spots.com (2026-09-22) from the sources credited on this page. Distances are straight lines between map positions.
Photos
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence — see credits
- 150124 Gion Kyoto Japan01s3 — 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · source · resized
- Shijo Dori DSCN5694 20081114 — Ogiyoshisan · Public domain · source · resized
- Maikos dancing at Miyako odori — Steven Rolland from Osaka, Japan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source · resized
- Kyoto gion02 — Moja · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source · resized
- Kyoto gion01 — Moja · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source · resized
- Kyoto Gion 11 — Zairon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · resized
- KyotoMinami-za — User: (WT-shared) Shirakawa-yobune at wts wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 1.0 · source · resized
- Gion Kaikan — Own work · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source · resized
- Gion Ichiriki-tei1 — Yanajin33 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · resized
- Gion, Kyoto (50910917781) — Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY 2.0 · source · resized
What this place is
Gion (祇園) is a district of Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan, originating as an entertainment district in the Sengoku period, in front of Yasaka Shrine (Gion Shrine). The district was built to accommodate the needs of travellers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. Gion is the Japanese translation (via Chinese Qiyuan) of the Buddhist term Jetavana. Yasaka Shrine, located in this district is the center of the Gion faith. The geisha in Kyoto do not refer to themselves as geisha, instead using the local term 'geiko'. While the term geisha means "artist" or "person of the arts", the more direct term geiko means essentially "a woman of art".
Background text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
What to expect at this type of place: Cityscape
Nearby station
Nearby station: Gion-shijo (Keihan Main Line), about 300 m from the spot in a straight line.
Worked out on 2026-09-14 from this place’s map position, using HeartRails Express station data and station names from Wikidata. The distance is a straight line, not a walking route, and says nothing about buses, transfers or timetables — plan the trip on Google Maps.
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