Kōetsu-ji – Hon'ami Kōetsu's Takagamine, the Kōetsu Fence and Autumn Garden

In the early Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted Hon'ami Kōetsu the land at Takagamine, where he lived among artists and artisans in what was effectively an artists' village. A hall Kōetsu built to honour the Hon'ami family is said to have later become Kōetsu-ji.

Beyond a stone-paved approach like a tunnel of maples, the spacious grounds are planted with maples and dotted with tea houses. The "Kōetsu-gaki", a fence of diagonally woven bamboo forming a gentle arc, is the temple's signature view.

In autumn the whole precinct turns colour against the Takagamine hills. It is a quiet area a little outside the city; combine it with nearby Genkō-an and Jōshō-ji.