Katsura Imperial Villa

Katsura Imperial Villa is considered by many architects to be the single most beautiful building in Japan, and possibly the most influential piece of architecture in the world. When Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius visited in 1954, he said it was 'a masterpiece beyond comparison.' Bruno Taut called it 'the greatest work of Japanese architecture.' It's a bold claim for a villa you need a reservation to see, but the moment you step inside the garden, the superlatives make sense.

Built in the 1620s for Prince Hachijō Toshihito — a member of the imperial family with extraordinary aesthetic taste — the villa is a masterclass in simplicity. Unfinished natural materials, clean lines, modular rooms with tatami proportions that shift between intimate and expansive — every detail is precise without feeling fussy. The garden, designed to be experienced as a series of revealed scenes along a walking path, changes mood constantly: a moss-covered island, a stone beach, a tea house that frames a view of the pond as if it were a painting.

Reservations are required through the Imperial Household Agency and can be booked online — tours run several times daily and are free. The guided tour takes about an hour, and you can't stray from the path, which is frustrating but also means the garden remains pristine. Photographers will want an overcast day — the diffused light brings out the green of the moss and the texture of the wood in a way that direct sunlight flattens.