Kyoto monthly rental house. Welcome to Shinnyo House, a spiritual abode located between Kyoto University and the Philosopher’s Path at the foot of the Shinnyō-dō Temple.
Kyoto Living at Shinnyo House – Guest Reviews and Experiences
A refined house in a elegant area
Shinnyo means the true nature of things in Japanese.
The Shinnyo vacation monthly rental house is a haven of peace and silence, with no party walls with other houses. It is entered via a picturesque pedestrian walkway lined with flowers, plum trees, cherry trees and Japanese maples.
This machiya style house was completely renovated in 2022.
A world of art
The japanese-style, washitsu, rooms are covered in tatami mats and equipped with fusuma (sliding panels), shoji (rice paper screen in front of the windows), tokonoma (decorative alcove) and oshiire (sliding-door wardrobe). Those rooms are decorated, lit and furnished with traditional, antique elements, with a few contemporary accents.
The large room on the 2d floor has a double bed and offers a charming view of the traditional rounded and decorated tiled roofs of the houses in the district of Jodoji (near philosophy path).The 2 bedrooms on the ground floor have comfortable futons. One of them can be used as a living room, with its Mujirushi sofa and a kotatsu, a traditional heated low table, enjoyable during cold season from autumn to spring.
There are also antique furniture and accessories from the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods.
A confortable daily life in Kyoto
The kitchen also serves as a welcoming living area. Modern, functional and fully equipped, it includes a Panasonic refrigerator and freezer, rice cooker, kettle, coffee machine, microwave, oven and dishwasher.
The bathroom features both a shower and a furo, a deep Japanese bathtub with electronic controls. The separate toilet is fitted with an electronic washlet seat with bidet functions.
Laundry facilities include an 8 kg washer-dryer. In fine weather, the spacious outdoor areas and clothes-drying poles provide a convenient alternative for drying laundry naturally.
The house has a fast fibre-optic Internet connection, with Wi-Fi available throughout the property on both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands. The connection is suitable for remote work, video calls, streaming and simultaneous use by several people.
The house includes two separate workspaces, each equipped with a desk, allowing two people to work independently and comfortably.
All rooms are equipped with Daikin air conditioning, providing efficient cooling in summer and heating in winter. The system has ample capacity for the house, allowing a comfortable indoor temperature to be reached quickly and maintained reliably, even during Kyoto’s hottest summer days and coldest winter periods.
Comfort is further enhanced by double-glazed windows throughout the house, which help maintain a stable indoor temperature and improve energy efficiency.
Additional equipment includes a 50-inch Sharp Smart TV, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, vacuum cleaner etc.
The living and dining areas are furnished with a dining table and chairs, comfortably seating four people, or up to six with the extension leaf, as well as a sofa and low tables.
Cooking utensils, tableware, cleaning equipment, bed linen and towels are all provided.
Bicycles can be parked safely in the private patio.
A Sanctuary in Kyoto for Peaceful Slumbery site.
The master bedroom features a queen-size bed (160 cm) with a pocket-spring mattress for excellent support. For added flexibility, a removable foam mattress topper allows you to adjust the firmness to your liking.
The bedding is inspired by the refined standards of Sofitel hotels sourced from their official store, offering a touch of 5 stars luxury hotel during your stay.
The air conditioning unit has been carefully positioned to ensure it does not blow air directly on you while you sleep, allowing for a more peaceful and comfortable rest.
A Quiet and Serene Ambiance : The house is exceptionally quiet, providing the perfect environment for restful sleep and complete relaxation.
The two bedrooms on the first floor are furnished with four thick and comfortable single futons, which can be freely arranged.
Guest Experiences
Other testimonies from our golden book :
La Shinnyo house est un logement idéal pour découvrir Kyoto. Son environnement est paisible et invite à profiter autant de l’intérieur si agréable que de balades ressourçantes au sein du Temple du même nom où le long du chemin de la philosophie.
Nous avons loué des vélos pour nous déplacer, c’est le meilleur moyen de découvrir cette grande ville en prenant le temps. Et nous recommandons particulièrement de descendre, rouler et s’attarder au bord de la rivière Kamo, havre de paix.
Nous avons passé 1 mois dans la maison et nous y serions bien restés beaucoup plus si nous le pouvions.
Merci à Romaric pour son accueil et ses conseils.
Félicitations pour l’aménagement et tous ces beaux objets chinés, qui nous plongent dans le Japon, si intensément.
Nathalie (2025)
Our stay at Xavier and Chika's house was wonderful. The house is very clean, spacious, beautifully decorated and in a lovely neighborhood full of nice restaurants and cafés. There's a 24hour supermarket round the corner and it's really close to the Philosopher's path and Ginkaku-ji Temple. The walk to the center is doable (30/40 minutes) but you can easily take one of the many buses if you don't feel like walking. Kyoto's most famous tourist attractions can be overcrowded so it was great to just walk around our neighborhood and enjoy a more relaxed side of the city. Thanks again for letting us enjoy your home and your city.
Maria (2024)
Antiques objects in Shinnyo house
We like the Japanese conception of objects. Old objects have a memory, they have a presence. They are like bridges between the past and the present and help us to situate ourselves in time.
We came to Shinnyo House with our two children (8 and 12) travelling across Japan — Hokkaido, Tokyo, Yuzawa, Okinawa — and it was the first place where the house itself became part of the journey rather than simply somewhere to sleep.
The machiya is magnificent, and we count ourselves lucky to have been able to stay there. The tatami, the paper screens that soften the light, the antique furniture chosen with real taste — everything is authentic, and yet nothing feels like a display. That is the rare thing about this house: it is full of history, and you still feel completely at home in it. Our children moved through it as though it were their own, which is not something we expected from a traditional Japanese house.
The kitchen is properly equipped, so we cooked in the evenings rather than eating out. There is a washing machine, a dishwasher, real storage. The bedrooms give you the choice between a bed upstairs and futons below. And the quiet is genuinely remarkable given how close you are to Ginkaku-ji and the Philosopher's Path, which begins at the end of the street.
The neighbourhood is what we would come back for. Within a few minutes walk we found a tiny soba house with a handful of seats and not a single tourist — one of the best meals of our entire month in Japan. A wagashi shop run by an elderly couple who make everything by hand and have no website at all. A neighbourhood café rated far above anything in the centre. And one morning we walked out and came across a temple ceremony we had not planned for: monks handing out wooden memorial tablets before Obon, and the whole congregation walking on to the cemetery together. None of that is in a guidebook. You only find it by living somewhere.
This house is the sort of place where you would settle into a routine, find your own bakery, learn which bus goes where, and stop being a visitor. There is a supermarket a few minutes away, and everything else you need within walking distance.
Xavier and Chika were exceptionally kind. When we made a mistake with a booking elsewhere in Japan and had no Japanese phone line to fix it, they offered to call on our behalf without hesitation. They left us a booklet of their own neighbourhood addresses, which we used every day. And they gave our family a ceramic tea bowl as we left — which now holds the matcha we learned to grind by hand in Uji.
We talked with them for a long while on the doorstep at the end, and it was one of the good moments of our stay. They are genuinely interesting people, curious and generous with their time. We very much hope to see them again — in Kyoto or in Paris, even just over a coffee, or a matcha.
It is often what you miss with a rental: the people. We were lucky on both counts — the house and the hosts.
Staying in Xavier and Chika’s home was truly one of the highlights of our trip to Japan.
Their beautiful traditional Kyoto house is full of history and character, yet at the same time incredibly clean, comfortable, and thoughtfully cared for. It gave us a chance to experience Kyoto in such an authentic and memorable way.
Xavier and Chika were exceptionally kind, welcoming, and thoughtful hosts. From the very beginning, they made us feel at home and were always happy to help.We feel incredibly lucky to have stayed here and recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone looking for a truly special experience in Kyoto.
Thank you 🙏🏼
We had a truly wonderful stay at Shinnyo House. We received a very warm welcome and felt at home from the start. The house is spacious, thoughtfully arranged and exceptionally well equipped for a longer stay.
We travelled with our young baby and found that everything we could possibly need had been provided, and more. It made the stay especially easy and comfortable for our family.
The location is excellent: set in a quiet residential neighbourhood, yet close to excellent shops and restaurants.
We would gladly stay here again on our next visit to Kyoto.
Lothar and Heidi
Dec 2025
We lived at Shinnyo House for two months and felt very comfortable, both during the very hot September and the cooler October. It is a spacious and tastefully furnished old but renovated Japanese house with antiques from the Edo and Meiji periods, offering both Japanese and Western sleeping accommodations and a fully equipped kitchen for preparing Western and Japanese food. We wanted for nothing! The owner is very friendly and helpful. Before the contract began, he gave us detailed and accurate information about the house and the surrounding area, showed us everything and explained it all immediately after our arrival, and was always willing to answer our questions later on. The house is located in a quiet residential area between the Kyoto University and Philosopher's Walk, below a narrow street with little traffic and surrounded by single-family homes. There are parking spaces for bicycles right next to the house. A supermarket, bakeries, cafes, restaurants, and bus stops are within walking distance. That was very convenient. We will gladly rent this house again during our next longer stay in Kyoto. It was a really wonderful time.
We are very happy and feel privileged to have had the occasion to call the Shinnyo house our home for almost half a year.
The house itself is marvelous, with Japanese washitsu, historic furniture and full equipment. It is cozy, well preserved and in perfect shape. Even more importantly, the owners are very kind and caring, which greatly facilitated our life in Kyoto.
The neighborhood is both very quiet and conveniently located. We enjoyed the walks and runs in the neighboring hills, the atmosphere of the Shinnyodo temple close by, frequent visits to the bath-house, the convenience of close shopping options, the accessibility of nice restaurants, cafés and bars just around the corner and the wonderful walk to Kyoto University on the other side of Yoshida hill. At the same time, the neighborhood is still quite authentic, a far cry from the crowds of the city center, despite its wonderful sights such as the Silver temple, the Philosophers path or Eikando temple close by.
Markus Kern
Staying here felt like living in a museum—it’s such a beautiful and unique building. We really enjoyed admiring the historical decorations. Despite being an old Japanese building, the stay was very comfortable. The kitchen was spacious and easy to use. We highly recommend this place to anyone interested in Japanese culture!
Un grand merci à Xavier et Chika pour leur accueil. Nous avons passé, dans une maison de rêve, typique japonaise et très confortable, un très agréable séjour en famille à Kyoto! C'est avec plaisir que nous les accueillerons à Madrid ou en Andalousie. Si l'occasion se présente, nous retournerons chez eux avec un immense plaisir! Le Japon est un pays extraordinaire, et Kyoto un veritable joyau!
Mille mercis Xavier et Chika!
When I first stepped in Maison Shinnyo I could not believe my eyes. Xavier and his wife have done an incredible job at renovating this old house. It still has a traditional feeling, however it comes with every modern amenity you could think of. Every small detail is taken care of, and the superb decoration of the house will transport you back to the Edo period. I thoroughly enjoyed my 11 day stay and I look forward to visiting again.
I stayed in April at Maison Shinnyo, and I already want to come back. I was the first user after a renovation where everything was brand new and worked out perfectly. The neighborhood is magical for those who search serenity. My weeks there were amazing as I discovered Kyoto, explored by bike, and learned more about the Japanese Culture. I recommend this house for those who have appreciation of Japanese traditions, aesthetics, and want to submerge in a truly Japanese neighborhood. The hosts are very helpful so landing in Japan for what concerns the basics: supermarket, moving around and spotting the local places was seamless. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️