Where can you ring a temple bell on New Year's Eve in Kyoto?

What joya no kane is

Joya is the last night of the year and kane is the bell. Kyoto's tourist information centre (Kyo Navi) describes it simply: on the evening of 31 December, Buddhist temples across Japan ring their bells 108 times to welcome the new year and sweep away evil, and the bell "rings only 108 times. Nothing more, nothing less." The number is usually linked to the 108 worldly desires of Buddhist teaching.

It is a religious service, not a countdown party. Kyoto's official tourism site, Kyoto Travel, makes the same point in its New Year guidance: these are ceremonies, so keep groups small, stay quiet, leave selfie sticks at home in crowded grounds and take your rubbish with you. Expect cold, long queues and very little to do while you wait.

Japan's New Year holiday shapes the rest of your trip as well. Banks, government offices and many museums close around 29 December to 3 January; the full list is in our Japan in winter guide, and the next morning's shrine visits are covered in our hatsumode guide.

Chion-in: the big one, and watch-only

Chion-in, the head temple of the Jodo sect in Higashiyama, has the best-known New Year's Eve bell in Kyoto. It is rung by a team of monks, so visitors cannot ring it. The temple's own page for 2025 set out how it worked:

• Times (31 December 2025): ceremony from about 22:20, bell ringing from about 22:40 to 00:35.

• Price: 3,000 yen per person, free for primary-school age and under.

• Booking: online applications opened at 14:00 on 1 December, first come, first served, for four groups of 500. Phone applications were refused and there was no same-day entry. A further 400 tickets (four groups of 100) were sold in cash at the Yuzen-en reception from 8 to 24 December, 9:00 to 16:00.

• On the night: check-in at the Kuromon bus pool; each group spends about 30 minutes at the bell tower, and you cannot re-enter once you leave.

• Free option: the ceremony is streamed live on YouTube.

• Free in person: the trial ringing (tameshi-tsuki), when monks rehearse a few days before. Chion-in has already listed the 2026 rehearsal for Sunday 27 December 2026 from 14:00, no application needed, though entry can be limited if the bell tower area fills up.

As of late October 2026, Chion-in had not published its 31 December 2026 ticket details. If the 2025 pattern holds, applications open on 1 December, so set a reminder and be online at 14:00 Japan time.

Temples where visitors can ring the bell

Kyo Navi's joya no kane list (dated 6 December 2025) gave these temples, all on 31 December. It notes that visitors usually ring as a group and that information can change without notice.

• Eikando (Zenrin-ji): queue between 23:00 and 00:30 to ring; the gate closes at 00:30.

• Kodai-ji: numbered tickets handed out from 22:00, first come, first served, with ringing from 23:45. Kodai-ji and Chion-in are walking distance apart but their times clash, so pick one.

• Chishaku-in: 23:40 to 00:40, first come, first served.

• Seigan-ji (Shinkyogoku, near Shijo): numbered tickets from 23:00.

• Mibu-dera: from 23:30, first come, first served.

• Hyakumanben Chion-ji: numbered tickets from 22:15, ringing 23:40 to 00:45.

What about Kennin-ji? Kyoto's oldest Zen temple sits just south of Gion and is a natural stop on a Higashiyama evening walk, but it was not on the tourist office's 2025 list of temples where visitors can ring. Do not build your night around ringing there.

Because the bell is struck exactly 108 times and each group gets one strike, places run out. Where a temple hands out numbered tickets, being in the queue before the ticket time is the safe plan; for queue-only temples such as Eikando, arrive well before the window opens. We have no figures for how early the tickets go, so treat the start times as the latest sensible arrival, not the target.

Getting around on New Year's Eve

This is where most plans go wrong. For 2025 the Kyoto City Transportation Bureau said there would be no all-night service and no later last trains or buses on the city subway or city buses on New Year's Eve (notice dated 8 December 2025). Buses ran on the holiday timetable from 28 December to 4 January.

Keihan did run all night, from New Year's Eve into the morning of 1 January, on its main lines (not the Otsu lines), according to the company's announcement as reported by Travel Watch. Keihan's Gion-Shijo station is the nearest stop to Yasaka Shrine and the Higashiyama temples, which makes a hotel on the Keihan line the simplest base. Otherwise, choose a temple you can walk back from. See our where to stay in Kyoto guide for areas, and the Kyoto city bus fare guide for normal-day buses.

The 2026 timetables are usually announced in early December, so check the Transportation Bureau and Keihan before you book.

A popular pairing is okera mairi at Yasaka Shrine, a Shinto fire rite that runs through the night of 31 December, where people carry home a smouldering rope lit from the shrine's sacred flame. It sits next to Chion-in, but Chion-in bans naked flames on its grounds, so do not take a burning rope to the bell.

Etiquette at the bell

Chion-in's rules are a good guide for every temple: no tripods, selfie sticks, drones, microphones or loudspeakers, no flash, no livestreaming on social media, no open flames, and do not come to worship after drinking. The grounds run one way, so use the toilet before you join the line, and dress for a long, cold wait.

• When it is your turn, follow the monk or volunteer. It is usual to bow or put your palms together before and after the strike. Pull the beam back, let it swing once, and step away; one strike per group.

• Photos: take them of the bell tower and the line, not of people praying, and never where a sign says no. Our Kyoto temple photography and Gion etiquette guide covers the general rules.

• Clothing: no strict dress code at night, but temple halls ask you to remove shoes, so wear ones that slip off. Our Japan temple and shrine dress code guide has more.

• Money: the 2025 tourist office list published no fees for the ring-it-yourself temples. Carry coins anyway for the offering box.

If you would rather see the year out with fireworks, our New Year's Eve abroad guide compares ten cities. Kyoto is for the bell and the shrine, and it is quiet in between.

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