Kyoto is not short of beautiful hotels, but Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto has one thing most of them do not: an 800-year-old pond garden at its centre. At the foot of Higashiyama Mountain in the ancient capital’s temple district, the hotel feels like an idyllic paradise arranged around Shakusui-en: a heritage garden believed to date back to the late Heian period. With 180 rooms, including 13 suites and 57 residential suites, two restaurants, two lounges, a spa and wellness centre and a leather-clad Hermès rickshaw in its lobby, this is a property that makes staying in feel as compelling as going out.
Wallpaper* checks in at Four Seasons Kyoto
What’s on your doorstep?
Higashiyama might be Kyoto at its most atmospheric: narrow alleyways, traditional machiya houses, temples, shrines, small artisanal shops. Kyoto Station is about ten minutes away, making arrivals easy, while the surrounding district places guests close to some of the city’s most rewarding cultural sites, such as the Kyoto National Museum or Kiomizu-dera temple. That said, the hotel has a habit of slowing plans down. Between its garden, tea house, terrace overlooking the koi pond, and weekly maiko (traditional apprentice geisha) live performances in its lobby, leaving requires a surprising amount of discipline.
Who is behind the design?
Kyoto’s Four Seasons Hotel is an exercise in understated luxury, steeped in tradition yet thoroughly modern. The architectural blueprint was developed by Japanese studio Kume Sekkei, while global interior design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) led the interiors for the guest rooms, spa and public spaces.
The sense of arrival is particularly strong: the porte-cochère, designed by Jun Mitsui & Associates, takes its cue from traditional Japanese umbrellas, with washi paper and glass used to soften the threshold between city and hotel. Indoors, HBA overlooked nothing, with grandeur in spades: quadruple-height ceilings in the dining room; a leather-clad Hermès rickshaw in a hallway corner; and cushions woven by Hosoo, a Kyoto atelier that dates from 1688.
Among the hotel’s expansive art collection, highlights include Seven Stones by Tokyo-born sculptor Todo, made using rocks collected from the hotel’s pond garden, and Zen by Ofune Makoto, a large blue work inspired by the temple district, shifting seasons and Kyoto’s meditative calm.
The room to book
Rooms and suites are designed around the Japanese idea of kutsurogi, or relaxation, and the best of them look directly onto either the city or the garden. Even the more contemporary spaces feel rooted in Kyoto through their use of washi-paper lighting, soft screens, warm wood and calm, restrained palettes. The garden-facing rooms are the ones to book, if possible: waking up to Shakusui-en is an experience in itself. The residential suites are a particular hot commodity for longer stays or families, offering the scale and privacy of an apartment with the service of a hotel.
Staying for drinks and dinner?
Designed by Yamamoto Atelier, the teahouse in the garden, also known as Fuju Lounge, is used for meditative tea ceremonies by day, but come twilight, it turns into a swanky bar serving fine sakes – including one produced exclusively for Four Seasons – and premium Champagne. The perfect pre-prandial stopover before heading to Sushi Ginza Onodera Sushi, the 10-seater restaurant that serves Edo- (Tokyo-) style sushi from chef Takuya Kubo, or Kyoto Grill, the brasserie-style restaurant serving breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner, with charcoal-grilled meats, dry-aged cuts and seafood among its signatures
Where to switch off
The spa is one of the largest wellness areas in Kyoto, where facilities include a 20-metre indoor pool, Japanese ofuro baths, sauna, steam room, whirlpool, relaxation lounge and 24-hour fitness centre, alongside seven treatment rooms. Treatments draw on Kyoto traditions and seasonal ingredients. The Heian Tradition ceremony uses matcha, bamboo charcoal salt, camellia oil, rice milk, honey compresses, a sake bath and hot stones, while the Zen Ceremony focuses on full-body massage, ginger-infused hot towels and, in the longer version, another sake bath. There are also Sodashi treatments for jet lag and detox, alongside facials using Kotoshina, Biologique Recherche and Tatcha.
The verdict
Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto works because it understands that the garden is not a backdrop, but the point. The rooms are elegant, the food is strong, the spa is genuinely worth setting time aside for, and the location places guests inside one of Kyoto’s most atmospheric districts. But it is Shakusui-en that gives the hotel its character: koi in the pond, seasonal blossom, a glass bridge over ancient stonework, a tea house looking back towards the 12th century. Kyoto's beauty and history is unusually easy to take all at once.
Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto is located at 445-3 Myohoin Maekawacho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0932, Japan