Street Snap #59 KYOTOGRAPHIE 2026: Architecture and Photography, Day 3

This is the third and final part of a three-part photo record from my visits to the venues of KYOTOGRAPHIE 2026.

On the final day, I first visited Lebohang Kganye’s “Rehearsal of Memory” at Higashi Honganji O-genkan. After that, since I had seen most of the KYOTOGRAPHIE venues I wanted to visit, I decided to spend the rest of the day walking around Kyoto with a focus on temples. I headed to Sanjusangen-do and Tofukuji, both of which I had visited before. At Sanjusangen-do, I wanted to see once again, with my own eyes, the overwhelming space filled with a thousand Buddhist statues. At Tofukuji, I wanted to revisit the Hojo Garden by Mirei Shigemori.

After that, I saw the special exhibition “Kitano Tenjin” at the Kyoto National Museum, which happened to be on view at the time. Some parts of the day could not be photographed, but I was able to keep them clearly as my own experience. Finally, before heading home, I photographed Kyoto Station again, the station building designed by Hiroshi Hara.

The final day moved from a KYOTOGRAPHIE exhibition venue to temples, a museum, and Kyoto Station. Rather than focusing only on exhibitions, it became a record of walking through Kyoto while looking again at places I had visited before, each with its own scale, history, and atmosphere.

The photos are arranged in the order in which I visited the venues over the three days. Day 3 records the time I spent at Higashi Honganji O-genkan, Sanjusangen-do, Tofukuji, the Kyoto National Museum, and Kyoto Station. ■

At Higashi Honganji O-genkan, Lebohang Kganye’s “Rehearsal of Memory” was on view. Works dealing with family history, memory, inheritance, and identity unfolded through photographs, silhouettes, light boxes, fabric, and spatial composition.

Seen inside the large entrance space of Higashi Honganji, the personal memories in the work seemed to overlap with the quiet scale of temple architecture. (GR IV Image Control: Negative Film)

At Sanjusangen-do, I wanted to see once again the overwhelming space of the long main hall and the thousand standing Senju Kannon statues inside. Through the length of the building, the repetition of the columns, and the time spent walking through the grounds, I could once again feel the scale and history of Kyoto’s religious architecture.

Photography is not allowed inside the hall, so there is much that cannot be conveyed through photos. That is exactly why I hope you will visit in person and experience its power for yourself. (GR IV Image Control: Negative Film)

At Tofukuji, I revisited the Hojo Garden by Mirei Shigemori. Its structure, with gardens arranged around all four sides of the hojo, is distinctive, and the combination of stones, moss, sand, and paving stones also gives a sense of modernity within an old temple.

I walked through the spacious grounds, sat in front of the garden, and spent some time looking at it quietly. (GR IV Image Control: Standard)

At the Kyoto National Museum, I saw the special exhibition “Kitano Tenjin” at the Heisei Chishinkan wing. Precious picture scrolls were also on display, and it was exactly the kind of exhibition I had wanted to see. Learning again about the history of Kitano Tenjin reminded me of the depth of Japanese history. (GR IV Image Control: Cinema Yellow)

At the end of the trip, I photographed Kyoto Station again before heading home. Returning to the station building designed by Hiroshi Hara, which I had also seen on the first day, I walked through it while looking back on the three days I had spent in Kyoto.

The vast atrium, layered circulation, and lines of the escalators became a different kind of ending from the temples and exhibition spaces I had visited earlier. (GR IV Image Control: Negative Film)