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Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
At the eastern end of Shijō-dōri, at the edge of Gion, is the shrine responsible for Kyoto's main festival - the Gion Matsuri, which takes place in July. The shrine is small in comparison with many in Kyoto, but it boasts an impressive display of lanterns.
Yasaka Shrine , once called Gion Shrine , is a Shinto shrine in the Gion District of Kyoto, Japan. Situated at the east end of Shijō-dōri, the shrine includes several buildings, including gates, a main hall and a stage. The Yasaka shrine is dedicated to Susanoo in the tradition of the Gion faith as its chief kami, with his consort Kushinadahime on the east, and eight offspring deities on the west. The yahashira no mikogami include Yashimajinumi no kami, Itakeru no kami, Ōyatsuhime no kami, Tsumatsuhime no kami, Ōtoshi no kami, Ukanomitama no kami, Ōyatsuhiko no kami, and Suseribime no mikoto.
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円山公園 Maruyama Kōen
One of the most popular spot for cherry blossom viewing in Kyoto, and can get extremely crowded at that time of year. The park's star attraction is a weeping cherry tree (shidarezakura), which offers an ethereal vision lit up in the night. Outside of the season, a nice spot to rest yourself during travelling around the Higashiyama area. Main entrance to the park is through Yasaka Shrine.
高台寺
This temple was built for Toyotomi Hideyoshi's widow by Tokugawa Ieyasu and is located right next to the Ryōzen Kannon temple on the Higashiyama mountain. If you really like temples this is a very nice one. It's got a nice bamboo grove that you walk through on the way out. It was established in 1605. The remaining buildings survived a fire in 1789.
東大谷; 大谷祖廟 Ōtani Sobyō
Located in a cemetery, tourists typically visit this site accidentally however, because some of the ashes of Shinran, the founder of Jōdo-Shin Buddhism, are contained inside the mausoleum, it is a popular place for Buddhists to come to pay their respects.
建仁寺
Japan's oldest Zen temple, has handsome halls and sand and moss gardens, and is of particular interest to art lovers. Sōtatsu's famed Edo-period screens of the Wind and Thunder Gods are on display. And on the high ceiling of the Hatto Dharma Hall writhe Koizumi Junsaku's splendid Twin Dragons, painted and installed in 2002.
霊山観音
A memorial to the unknown Japanese soldiers who died in World War II, with a 24-meter-tall statue of Kannon.
知恩院
The head temple of the Jodo sect of Buddhism. The Sanmon gate at the entrance to the temple is the largest of such gates in the nation. Visitors can walk freely around the complex and inside the buildings, except for those that house the temples "Seven Wonders".