Heian Shrine was built in 1895 to mark the eleven-hundredth anniversary of the founding of Kyoto. The main buildings are a five-eighths scale reconstruction of the original eighth-century Imperial Palace, in brilliant vermilion-and-green imperial colours that come as a shock if you arrive expecting weathered cypress. The enormous concrete otorii on the approach road — twenty-four metres tall, painted vermilion — is the unmistakable landmark of the surrounding museum district.
The shrine's garden, designed by Ogawa Jihei VII in the kaiyū (strolling pond) style, is the real surprise. It wraps around the back of the shrine in four sections — minami, nishi, naka, higashi — and is one of the great Meiji-era gardens in Japan, with weeping cherries, irises, lotus, and a covered stone bridge over the central pond. The garden charges separately and is worth every yen.