Kishu Experience Overnight stay at Kisho with Koyasan tour and Kishu peninsula

Kishu Experience Overnight stay at Kisho with Koyasan tour and Kishu peninsula

Just a 20 minute shinkansen ride from Kyoto to our starting point, we offer an easy way to explore small town rural life in Japan on this leisurely beginner-friendly ride, with a local resident guide, fluent in English, to help you enjoy our area’s unique geographical and historical points of interest.

The 22km course features rice and agriculture fields, historic trade routes, an up-close look at traditional handcraft, rural sustainable living practices, and a lunch of locally-sourced Japanese cuisine. Visit a traditional woodcarver's studio (optional extra 1 hr carving workshop available too!), a butsudan altar showroom, local shrines, temples, and more.

In our tours, we hope to both share and preserve our local culture and traditions. Toward this goal, we also work closely with municipalities and residents to ensure that we always respect the wishes and needs of the local communities that we visit.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Kaminyu, Maibara, Shiga 521-0033, Japan

Our guide will bring you here on your cycling tour to explore this quiet mountain village of traditional woodcarvers and artisans, including exclusive visits to their work studios and a showroom of locally produced butsudan altars. We partner with village representatives to offer exclusive access to this small private community. Woodcarving workshop here also available as an optional extra.

Duration: 45 minutes

Stop At: Samegaijyuku, Maibara Shiga Prefecture

A post station village of the historic Nakasendo Road, where Edo Period travelers would stay on their way to Kyoto. Our guide will show you points of interest, including the local shrine and temple near a spring that feeds the clear stream running through the heart of the community. We also enjoy a locally-sourced lunch (vegetarian available by request) at a local ryotei restaurant.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Stop At: Iogi, Maibara, Shiga 521-0091, Japan

A small 120-meter-high mountain where we will stop for refreshments, peek into a manmade cave with a unique history, and visit the mountain-side temple and shrine. If time allows, we will hike to the top for a beautiful view of the town and Lake Biwa.

Duration: 45 minutes