by Phil Kulikauskas

Have you ever taken a minute to sit back and look at a Japanese address and then asked yourself “Really?”

Pictured: The 77 likeliest locations of a single building.

Most addresses in Japan are more or less organized by ward (区, ku), town (町, chou), numbered district (丁目, choume), numbered block (番, ban), and numbered land parcel (号, gou). In the cities that use this system, most places are referred to by ward, town, and a set of numbers (eg. 1-2-3, for the first district, 2nd block, and 3rd registered piece of land in the block). Districts and blocks are fairly regularly laid out, but land parcels are typically ordered according to registration date and are therefore completely useless for finding your way around (you might have 3号 next to 27号). This also makes web searches effectively impossible. Your best bet is to use logic to reach the block-level, and then wander around the neighborhood until you find your destination.

Yet fear not, intrepid Kyoto resident! For we have a unique system here in Kyoto that will allow you to get lost in new and exciting ways!

Trying to navigate without a Ph.D. in Cartography? This could be you. Photo by Pinguino

The layout of Kyoto was originally based on the ancient Chinese capital of Chang’an.  In keeping with good feng shui, it’s basically a grid. Also, in another rarity for Japan, a huge number of the streets actually have names! This totally changes the game. Because of these two things, we can finally get to the whole point of this article, the secret to navigating this 1200-year-old city: Instead of progressive divisions into smaller and smaller areas, Kyoto addresses simply list the cardinal direction from the nearest major intersection.

Because of this, there are only four things you need to look for:
上ル agaru “north of”

下ル kudaru “south of”

東入ル higashi iru “east of”

西入ル nishi iru “west of

That’s it!

Now, don’t get me wrong, Kyoto addresses are still plenty scary to look at. Take this monster, for example. It’s the address of the Starbucks near Sanjo Keihan station, a popular meeting spot.

京都府京都市中京区三条通河原町東入ル中島町113近江屋ビル 1F
That’s seventeen kanji in a row. Ouch. But don’t give up hope. Look for one of the four direction keywords from above. Find it yet? From the left, look at characters 16-18.

京都府京都市中京区三条通河原町 東入ル 中島町113近江屋ビル 1F
Higashi iru! East! East of what? Look directly before the direction to find the intersection.

京都府京都市中京区 三条通河原町 東入ル中島町113近江屋ビル 1F
Sanjou doori Kawaramachi. East of the intersection of Sanjo Doori (三条通, sanjou doori) and Kawaramachi Doori (河原町, kawaramachi).

So where is it?

The Sanjo Starbucks, east of Kawaramachi Sanjo.

And there you go! Now that you know the directions, all you have to do is learn the main streets of the city. I’ll finish off with a quick list of those, and then you’ll be a true Kyotoite! Before you know it, Japanese people will be coming up to you for directions!

East/Westbound Roads:

• Kita Ooji Doori (北大路通り): Literally “north big road street,” this is on the northern end of the city.
• Imadegawa Doori （今出川通り）: Another big road in the northern part of the city; it borders the Kyoto Imperial Garden to the north.
• The –jo: Kyoto is divided into numbered districts (条, jou) from north to south, which makes a lot of directions relatively easy. The first, Ichijo (一条) is in the north, directly below Imadegawa Doori. Kyoto Station is at Hachijo (八条), the eighth district. There are a few more numbered districts south of Kyoto Station and several important named streets in between some jo.
• Marutamachi Doori （丸太町通り）: This big street comes between the Ichijo and Nijo, the first and second districts. It borders the Imperial Garden to the south.
• Oike Doori （御池通り）: Between Nijo and Sanjo (districts two and three).

North/Southbound Roads:

• Higashi Ooji Doori (東大路通り): Literally “east big road street,” this is on the eastern end of the city. It borders Yasaka Shrine to the west.
• Kawabata Doori (川端通り): Literally “riverbank street,” this road runs on the eastern bank of the Kamo River.
• Kiyamachi Doori (木屋町通り): Slightly to the west of the Kamo River, this street is not as large; however, as it contains an abundance of night life, you’re bound to become intimately acquainted with it.
• Kawaramachi Doori (河原町通り): This is the first main road west of the Kamo River.
• Karasuma Doori (烏丸通り): This is one of the biggest north/south roads in Kyoto, and is followed for most of its length by the Karasuma Subway Line.
• Horikawa Doori (堀川通り): This road runs by a nice little stream for most of its length.
• Nishi Ooji Doori (西大路通り):　Literally “west big road street,” this is on the western end of the city.