Six Senses Kyoto

The shrine is Toyokuni-jinja, founded in 1599 to honor Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Inside, the lobby ceiling folds like the concertina binding of the Tale of Genji manuscript, while a screen of 504 raku tiles from the Kiyomizu district frames the check-in desks and resolves into the silhouette of Kurama-yama. Genji was partly set there.

Behind the bed stands a headboard wall of rotating panels, asanoha pattern on one face and Japanese red lacquer on the other, meant to be turned and rearranged rather than left as found. A shoji screen closes off the bathroom, where the wall tiles follow the lines of an oke bathing bowl and a kodo holder keeps incense moving through the room. A painted moon hides the television.

All 81 rooms and suites carry a yoga mat, a pillow menu and an organic Naturalmat mattress, and they run from 42 to 238 square meters, looking out on the shrine gardens, the central courtyard or a panorama of treetops, temples and rooftops. Two of the suite types open straight onto a private Japanese garden, and the three-bedroom penthouse takes the top floor under vaulted timber ceilings, with a commissioned artwork mapping the Heian city grid. It sleeps six.