How to Get to Fushimi-Momoyama: Routes from Kyoto Station and the Keihan Line, and Which Arrival Station to Choose for Each Area

About the appeal of Fushimi-Momoyama

Fushimi-Momoyama can be reached by three lines: the Kintetsu Kyoto Line, the Keihan Main Line and the JR Nara Line. From Kyoto Station, head for Kintetsu’s Momoyama-Goryomae Station or JR’s Momoyama Station; from Gion-Shijo, Sanjo or the Keihan Line in Osaka, head for Fushimi-Momoyama Station. You can choose a station to suit your starting point and the place you want to visit first. The shopping streets, Gokonomiya Shrine and the sake brewery district are all within walking distance of the stations, which makes it easy to combine shopping with a historical walk. [80]

If you want to walk the sake brewery district first, you can also start from Keihan’s Chushojima Station to the south. Choosing your arrival station by the first place you want to visit, rather than by station name alone, makes it easier to decide the order of your walk.

Fushimi Ward and central Fushimi-Momoyama do not cover the same area

If you are visiting Fushimi-Momoyama for shopping or the sake brewery district, the center of your visit will be the area around Gokonomiya Shrine, Otesuji, Minamihama-cho and Chushojima. The castle site and imperial mausoleum to the east, Tambabashi and Fukakusa to the north, and areas farther away such as Toba and Daigo are not all part of the same half-day walking route. [20, 34, 57]

Present-day Fushimi Ward is an administrative ward formed by incorporating the former Fushimi City and the surrounding towns and villages. Kyoto City’s local history explains that Fukakusa, Momoyama, Mukaijima, Takeda, Toba and other areas each had their own tutelary deities and settlements. Guides to “Fushimi’s famous sights” list places in these separate areas, so checking the address and map first will help you choose your arrival station. [31, 57]

From Kyoto Station, go to Kintetsu’s Momoyama-Goryomae or JR’s Momoyama

If you use the Kintetsu Kyoto Line, your destination is Momoyama-Goryomae. The Otesuji Shopping Street is to the west of the station and Gokonomiya Shrine is to the east. This station makes it easy to get your bearings if you plan to visit Gokonomiya before heading to the shopping street. [15, 20]

If you use the JR Nara Line, the station name is Momoyama. The JR station is southeast of the Kintetsu station, and you can walk via Gokonomiya to Otesuji. It is also an option for anyone whose itinerary is based on JR. However, Kintetsu’s Momoyama-Goryomae Station and JR Momoyama Station are not the same station, so to avoid confusion when meeting someone, it is safest to tell them the railway company name as well. [30, 34]

Because stops differ depending on the train, please specify Momoyama-Goryomae or Momoyama when using a route search. You can also check whether a transfer is needed for your departure time.

From Gion-Shijo, Sanjo or the Keihan Line in Osaka, go to Fushimi-Momoyama

From stations on the Keihan Line such as Gion-Shijo, Sanjo and Yodoyabashi, you can take the Keihan Main Line to Fushimi-Momoyama Station. If you take a train that does not stop at Fushimi-Momoyama, change at Tambabashi or another transfer point to a train that does stop there. Since the most convenient train varies with the departure time, the most reliable approach is to check your arrival station with a route search on the day. [14]

Leaving Fushimi-Momoyama Station and heading west brings you to the arcade of the Otesuji Shopping Street. To the east is a Keihan level crossing, beyond which lie Kintetsu’s Momoyama-Goryomae Station and then Gokonomiya Shrine. This east–west sequence serves as a landmark when walking around the center of town. [34]

Comparing the three central stations and the northern and southern gateways

If you want to walk around Gokonomiya and Otesuji first, choose one of the top three stations in the table; if you want to see Chushojima’s history and the sake brewery district first, choose Chushojima; and if you want to start from the old town to the north, choose the Tambabashi side. On days when you include temples and shrines on the Tambabashi side, you will cover more ground than on a walk heading straight for Minamihama-cho. [34, 48]

The three stations are within walking distance of each other, but they do not share ticket gates or transfer passages. On the map following the station comparison table, you can open each station’s location from its name. From there, you can enter your starting point to look up a route to the station.

The station photographs shown here depict the stations as they were when photographed. You can check the locations of exits and elevators in Keihan’s station information, Kintetsu’s station map and JR’s station information. Each railway company’s station information was consulted on October 25, 2026.

The stations for Fushimi Inari Taisha are separate from Fushimi-Momoyama

Fushimi Inari Taisha is in Fukakusa, north of the sake brewery district and Otesuji. The nearest JR station is Inari Station, and on Keihan it is Fushimi-Inari Station. If you combine it with a walk around Fushimi-Momoyama, you can travel between the two areas by JR or Keihan. [24]

You can compare the route from JR Momoyama Station to Inari Station with the route from Keihan Fushimi-Momoyama Station to Fushimi-Inari Station. Entering your departure time will show the transfers and travel time for that day.

If you combine the two areas, you can look up rail routes between Keihan’s Fushimi-Inari Station and Fushimi-Momoyama or Chushojima Stations, or between JR’s Inari and Momoyama Stations. You will need to allow separately for the time spent visiting the shrine and the time for walking to stations, waiting for trains and riding. For a half day of leisurely sake brewery visits and lunch, you can also plan your day around Fushimi-Momoyama.

After walking to the sake brewery district, you can return from Chushojima

If you walk from Gokonomiya to Otesuji, Nayamachi, Ryoma-dori, and then the sake brewery district and waterside, Chushojima Station to the south becomes an option for the return trip. As a junction of the Keihan Main Line and Uji Line, it can be used to return toward Kyoto or Osaka, as well as to travel toward Uji. If you do not plan to go back to the shopping streets to shop, you will not need to retrace your steps to your arrival station. [24, 34]

On the other hand, if you want to return by Kintetsu or JR, or want to pick up sake on Otesuji, you will need to go back to a station to the north. The half-day walking plan explains the basic route ending at Chushojima and how it differs if you leave shopping until last.

The three lines reached today’s stations through different histories

The three lines that now run close together each reached Fushimi through different circumstances. Nara Railway, the predecessor of the JR Nara Line, opened between Kyoto and Fushimi in September 1895, and initially entered Fushimi by a different route from the current Nara Line. In 1921, the line was changed to a route running via Inari to Momoyama, and the old Kyoto–Fushimi section was abolished. The Fushimi–Momoyama section was used for a time as a freight line and was later transferred to Nara Electric Railway. When looking for today’s stations, it is important not to assume that the “Fushimi Station” on old maps is the same as today’s JR station. [DXP03]

To learn more about how the lines changed over time, continue to the modern history of how railways changed travel and trade in the port town. When choosing how to get here today, you can use the station names introduced so far and the current route map.

In the same year, 1895, the Kyoto Electric Railway’s streetcar also opened. The next old photograph records this streetcar crossing Kanjin Bridge. How railways and streetcars changed travel between Kyoto and Fushimi is explained in the history from the modern era onward. [31]

The way the railway was built also involved adjustments with the town’s industry. Accounts of Nara Electric Railway’s 1928 plan record that its effect on groundwater became an issue, and that the sake brewers’ association commissioned a geological survey and called for the line to be changed to an elevated structure. Today, when you look at the elevated tracks and the breweries’ wells, you can also trace a history of adjustments made so that surface transport and access to groundwater could coexist on the same land. This is explained in more detail in surveying and conserving well water. [R2P006]

References

• City of Kyoto: Sumu nara Kyoto (Living in Kyoto), Fushimi-Momoyama
• Keihan: Fushimi-Momoyama and Chushojima Walking Map
• Fushimi Ward at 90: A History of Diversity
• City of Kyoto: The Leap to Modern Industry
• Kintetsu: Momoyama-Goryomae Station Map
• JR West: Momoyama Station
• Keihan: Fushimi-Momoyama Station
• City of Kyoto: Fushimi Ward Residents’ Tour of Historic Sites and Famous Places
• Keihan: Fushimi Spot Guide
• DXP03: City of Kyoto, Fushimi Mukashi Kiko (Journeys into Old Fushimi) (September, Heisei 18)
• R2P006: Fushimi Joyukai, Efforts to Protect the Water

Featured image: Cafe & Sweets Parade Kyoto.