{"id":2959,"date":"2026-06-29T08:40:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T08:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/?p=2959"},"modified":"2026-07-17T05:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:11:33","slug":"overtourism-impacts-religious-practice-in-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/overtourism-impacts-religious-practice-in-kyoto\/","title":{"rendered":"Overtourism impacts religious practice in Kyoto"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Text and photos by Makayla Mahoney<\/a><\/strong>
\nInterpretation by Riko Matsuda, Manami Hashimoto, Kaori Fujita, Luna Saito, Yayoi Hayata, Misaki Fujii, Haruka Kariyama, Sota Ito, Than Shue Jing and Rica Nakajima<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hordes of people stretch across a narrow street as they struggle to make their way to the same destination. In the distance loom enormous vermilion torii<\/em> gates and intricately detailed pagodas.<\/p>\n

But no movement seems to draw anyone closer to this destination. People stop in the middle of the herd to snap a classic picture, grab a bite from one of many stalls along the road, or sit on the curb for a quick respite before taking off again. All the while, the growing noise of the crowd overwhelms the tranquility of the sacred space.<\/p>\n

The meditative nature of many shrines and temples across Kyoto has given way to this congestion, with Fushimi Inari Taisha and Kiyomizu-dera the most affected. Kyoto\u2019s increasing overtourism has begun to impact the locals\u2019 ability to practice religion at sacred sites across the city.<\/p>\n

As Japan\u2019s cultural capital, Kyoto is home to over 2,000 temples and shrines, many of which have become hot spots for tourism. The city attracts 60 million tourists per year from all parts of the globe, which is almost 50% of Japan\u2019s total population.<\/p>\n

This hasn\u2019t always been the case; the number of foreign visitors in Japan rose to this new level about a decade ago. At that time, it was the city of Kyoto\u2019s goal to drive tourism through promotions and advertisements. The city did not foresee the sheer number of tourists this would bring in, nor the area\u2019s lack of capacity to accommodate such numbers, which are expected to continue climbing, said Kunimitsu Imai, Kyoto\u2019s chief global policy officer.<\/p>\n

In a June 8 panel discussion on overtourism at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Toshihiko Goto, a professor in the department of global tourism there, said the problem isn\u2019t the number of tourists. Defining overtourism as \u201ca situation where visitors concentrate in specific times, places and seasons,\u201d he explained that the real issue is the congestion of tourists in popular areas.<\/p>\n

Goto listed the effects of tourist congestion, such as transit delays, lack of understanding of cultural norms and manners, increased noise and waste management issues. These go on to disrupt the lives of Kyoto\u2019s residents, he said.<\/p>\n

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A man takes photo of a woman in front of Namba Yasaki Shine with children sitting
on Shishiden. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Congestion is most visible in shrines such as Fushimi Inari Taisha and temples such as Kiyomizu-dera. Signs line the roads and entrances to these shrines and temples, listing the rules and expected manners upon entering. These religious spaces can face thousands of visitors from around the world on an average day, especially during peak seasons such as late summer, autumn and cherry blossom season.<\/p>\n

Miu Kamura, an employee at a souvenir shop within Fushimi Inari Taisha, cites these locations\u2019 prevalence on social media as a main reason for their crowds. Both Fushimi Inari Taisha and Kiyomizu-dera are often listed among the top 10 attractions in Kyoto, and are iconic locations for Instagram photos.<\/p>\n

Fushimi Inari Taisha has about 10,000 torii gates lining the mountain and offers scenic vistas of Kyoto, making it uniquely compelling.<\/p>\n

In Miu\u2019s year of working at the shrine, she has seen the negative effects of overcrowding, such as fire accidents caused by smoking. One of the most lasting impacts was the destruction of the suzu,<\/em> or bell, that hangs in front of Shinto altars to call the deities. Fushimi Inari Taisha no longer has a suzu at its main altar due to tourists breaking it.<\/p>\n

Kiyomizu-dera is home to the iconic Spear of Benkei, a tall, 200-pound spear that visitors come to attempt to lift. The temple also offers views overlooking the city of Kyoto, making it another location that draws many tourists.<\/p>\n

Katsumi Kawai, an employee at a shop along the road to Kiyomizu-dera, shared her experience with overtourism at these religious spaces as well. Growing up near Kiyomizu-dera, she often visited there to pray throughout her life. As of recently, however, she has not gone due to the extreme crowds. Now, she worships mainly during major holidays and festivals.<\/p>\n

The hordes of tourists are not without their positives, such as an increased income from admission fees, religious offerings and donations.<\/p>\n

According to Imai, the revenue gained from this has helped shrines and temples fund vital restoration efforts and improve infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, those few temples and shrines specialized in tourism should be viewed as successful marketing examples, even while they continue to secure the necessary religious activities for local residents,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile the ideal solution would be to distribute and guide tourists to various regions across Japan, so that more temples and shrines can benefit, this may be difficult to achieve in reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there are government and individual business efforts to implement better distribution of tourists, it is still a problem that \u201cmay be difficult to achieve in reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tourists themselves, however, can do things to help solve the problem of overtourism in Kyoto. Learning the rules, expectations and history of the location is essential to improving everyone\u2019s experience of the space, according to Isoya, a monk who has spent five years at Ninna-ji Temple.<\/p>\n

He said he wished tourists knew the history before visiting a temple. \u201cIf you don\u2019t know anything about it, you just see the scenery or views or pagoda, and that’s it. But if you know the history and story behind the scene, then you can experience, and you can learn more, and you appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thousands of shrines and temples that fill the historic and cultural city of Kyoto are active places of religious worship and embodiments of Japan\u2019s history and legacy. Isoya and others who manage these sites say there is more possible for tourists than just the consumption of views and capturing of pictures.<\/p>\n

Tomokiyo Tanaka, a priest at Iwashimizu Hachimangu shrine, leaves readers with this: \u201cIn Japan, a shrine is not only a place to see. It is a place to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyoto\u2019s increasing overtourism has begun to impact the locals\u2019 ability to practice religion at sacred sites across the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":2963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[145,135],"class_list":["post-2959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","tag-feature","tag-highlight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/MAKAYLA-Feature-001-WEB-A.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2959"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3076,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions\/3076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}