Kifune Shrine is reached by a famous flight of stone steps lined with vermilion lanterns, climbing from the small mountain river of the same name to a shrine dedicated to a deity of water and rain. The shrine is one of the oldest of its kind in Japan and is considered the spiritual headquarters of every shrine in the country dedicated to the Suijin water deity. The lit lantern steps after dark — especially when lightly covered in snow — are one of the most photographed shrine scenes in Kyoto.
The shrine offers a distinctive mizu-uranai fortune drawn from a sacred spring: blank slips of paper reveal their predictions only when floated on the water. In summer, restaurants along the river below the shrine extend dining platforms (kawadoko) directly out over the cascading water — a famously cooling way to eat kaiseki in the August heat. Combine with a hike over the ridge to Kurama-dera for a complete northern-mountains day.