Guide · Beyond Tokyo

Yakatabune boat ride in Kyoto's Arashiyama, and Yokohama dinner boats

A yakatabune boat ride in Kyoto is quiet and slow: a roofed boat poled by hand up the river at Arashiyama. Yokohama's dinner boats are closer to Tokyo's. Here is how both work and how to book them.

Check availabilityfrom $102 · free cancellation possible

Editorial team, yakatabunedinnercruise.comUpdated October 22, 20266-minute read18 sources

This guide's tour Kyoto: Private Boat Tour with Shamisen and Games 5.0 (24 reviews) 1 hour from$127 Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

Quick answer

01Kyoto boats: Poled with one bamboo pole, about 1 km upstream.¹
02Shared ride: About 30 minutes, cash, no booking needed.²
03Private ride: A 1-hour boat with shamisen and games.
04Ukai season: 1 July to 23 September, evening boats.³
05Yokohama: Shared dinner boat from Pukari Pier, 2 hours.⁴

The quiet boats of Arashiyama

Kyoto's yakatabune are a world away from Tokyo's dinner boats. At Arashiyama, on the western edge of the city, the boat company Arashiyama Tsusen still moves its engineless yakatabune with a single bamboo pole, on a course from its pier to about 1 km upstream.¹ There is no engine noise, no skyline, just the river, the wooded hills and the boatman's pole.

The tradition is old. Arashiyama Tsusen says roofed boats on the Oi River were an aristocratic pastime from around 805, when nobles enjoyed poetry, song and music on board, and that boatmen founded the company in 1912.⁵ ⁶ That makes a yakatabune boat ride in Kyoto one of the closest things to the original Heian pastime you can still book.

It is also easy. The shared sightseeing boats take about 30 minutes, are paid in cash and sold at the pier on the day, with no booking needed, and they leave every 20 to 40 minutes rather than on a timetable.² ⁷ In light rain the boats sail with clear vinyl sheets lowered against the wind and rain, and they run in winter too when the weather allows.⁸ ⁹ Keep some coins and notes ready, since cards are not taken for these tickets.

Ukai at Arashiyama

The cormorant fishing season

1 July

Season opens

Spectator boats start for the summer.³
From 18:00

Tickets at the pier

Tickets go on sale at the pier, cash only.³
Until 15 August

19:00 and 20:00

Two sailings each evening in high summer.³
From 17 August

18:30 and 19:30

Two earlier sailings after mid-August.³
23 September

Season ends

The last ukai boats of the year.³

A private boat with shamisen

For something more personal, the boat this page recommends is a private 1-hour trip from the Arashiyama Tsusen south pier, the pier for yakatabune and rental boats. The host is a former maiko, an apprentice geisha, who performs on the shamisen and leads traditional parlour games.

It is rated 5.0 from 24 reviews, has a live guide in English and Japanese, and starts from $127. Payment can wait until later, and cancelling at least a day ahead costs nothing; if the boat company cancels on the day for weather or strong wind, the listing promises a full refund.

Because the trip is private, it suits couples and small groups who want time to talk with the host about Kyoto's geisha culture as well as to see the river. Ask about the season when you book: the hills above the river change colour through the year.

Time on the water

Length of each ride, in hours

hrs

From Arashiyama Tsusen, the GetYourGuide listings and Hamashin's own page; Visit Kanagawa lists Hamashin at 2 h 30 m.² ⁴ ¹⁰

Side by side

Arashiyama, Yokohama and Tokyo compared

What	Arashiyama	Yokohama	Tokyo
Boat	Poled, no engine	Dinner yakatabune	Dinner yakatabune
Ride	About 30 min shared	2 hrs shared	2.5 hrs, our cruise
Food	Meal charters only	Kaiseki, tempura	About 14 dishes
Booking	Cash at the pier	5 days ahead	Online, ahead
Views	River and hills	Minato Mirai, Bay Bridge	Skytree, Rainbow Bridge

From Arashiyama Tsusen, Hamashin, Visit Kanagawa and the GetYourGuide listing for the Tokyo cruise.¹ ² ¹¹ ⁴ ¹² ¹³

Ways onto Kyoto's water

Private boat, river day or Hozu ride

Our Kyoto pick

Private boat with shamisen

Arashiyama, 1 hour

Host: A former maiko
Rating: 5.0
Price: from $127

See this trip

Kyoto: Arashiyama Day Tour with Train, Boat, and Onsen

Most reviewed

Arashiyama small-group day

Train, river boat, onsen

Length: 4.5 to 5 hours
Group: Up to 9
Price: from $150

See this trip

Kyoto Hozugawa River Boat Sagano Romantic Train Tour

Gorge ride

Hozu boat and Sagano train

From Kyoto Station

Boat: 1.5 hours
Train: 25 minutes
Price: from $115

See this trip

Decision helper

Kyoto, Yokohama or Tokyo?

Choose by the kind of evening you want

I want silence and nature I want a cultural host I am in Kyoto in summer I am staying in Yokohama I want the big skyline dinner

A shared boat at Arashiyama

Boats are poled by hand, about 1 km upstream.¹

The private Kyoto boat

A former maiko plays shamisen and leads games.

An ukai spectator boat

Cormorant fishing runs from 1 July to 23 September.³

Hamashin's share-ride

A 2-hour dinner boat from Pukari Pier, from 2 guests.⁴

Tokyo's Sumida cruise

2.5 hours from Asakusa down the river to the bay.

The skill of moving the engineless yakatabune freely with a single bamboo pole is still handed down by the boatmen.

Arashiyama Tsusen (operator)rendered from Japanese · Source 1

Cormorant fishing on summer nights

Summer adds a spectacle. Arashiyama Tsusen describes ukai, cormorant fishing, as a tradition at Arashiyama for more than a thousand years: a master in traditional dress works several sea cormorants on leashes from a boat to catch river fish such as ayu, with six birds to one master.¹⁴

The spectator boats run from 1 July to 23 September.³ Sailings are at 19:00 and 20:00 from 1 July to 15 August and at 18:30 and 19:30 from 17 August to 23 September; tickets are sold at the pier from 18:00, in cash, with no booking needed.³

A private option on GetYourGuide combines the ukai with a shamisen performance by a former maiko for 1 hour, available only from 1 July to 23 September; guests may bring drinks and snacks. It is a private-group listing with no reviews yet, from $699.

Checklist

Before a boat trip outside Tokyo

Arashiyama

Cash for shared boats and ukai tickets
An evening free for the ukai in summer
A light layer; rain sheets are lowered in showers

Yokohama

Book the share-ride 5 days ahead
Gather 20 minutes before sailing
Smoking only on deck

Video

Hozugawa River Cruise - Exciting boat ride in Arashiyama, Kyoto 2023

Nothing is loaded from YouTube until you press play on the video.

Lunch on the river and the Hozu boat ride

Arashiyama Tsusen also charters boats with meals, such as beef sukiyaki or beef and pork shabu-shabu, for two or more people, sailing between 11:00 and 15:00, or 12:00 to 15:00 in summer.¹¹ That is the Kyoto version of a yakatabune lunch: a private boat, a hot pot and the river.

Upstream, the Hozu River boat ride is a different trip: a longer run down the Hozu River into Arashiyama. A small-group Arashiyama day on GetYourGuide combines the Sagano Romantic Train, the Hozugawa river boat ride, the bamboo grove and a hot spring for 4.5 to 5 hours, limited to 9 participants. It starts from $150 and is rated 4.95 from 128 reviews.

Another tour pairs a 25-minute Sagano train ride with a 1.5-hour boat ride down the Hozu River, ending in Arashiyama. Note its limits: children under 80 cm or aged 0 to 2 cannot join the river boat, and it is not wheelchair accessible.

Yokohama's dinner yakatabune

Yokohama, south of Tokyo on the same bay, has dinner boats much like Tokyo's. Kanagawa's official tourism site lists Yakatabune Hamashin, which operates mainly in the Port of Yokohama and also in Tokyo, with three boats designed so that passengers can stay on deck while moving, and seasonal kaiseki that includes a Hayama beef course.¹² That makes Yokohama the place to try a yakatabune if your hotel is south of Tokyo.

The views are the port's. From the boats you see Minato Mirai at night and the lit Bay Bridge, and on clear evenings Mt. Fuji can be seen.¹³ Hamashin says its boatmen are also fishermen, that seafood caught in the morning is cooked on board, and that tempura is served freshly fried, one piece at a time.¹⁵

For a Yokohama dinner cruise without a group, Hamashin runs a share-ride from Yokohama Pukari Pier: 2 hours on the water, a minimum of 2 guests, gathering 20 minutes before sailing and booking 5 days ahead.⁴ Visit Kanagawa lists the cruise at 2 h 30 m, and says the Yokohama shared boat does not sail on Mondays, Wednesdays or over New Year.¹⁰

How these compare with Tokyo

Tokyo's dinner cruise is the long evening: the cruise this site sells boards at Azumabashi in Asakusa and runs 2.5 hours down the Sumida to Tokyo Bay and back, with about 14 dishes and free-flow drinks. Its strength is the skyline, the bridges and a full meal.

Arashiyama is the opposite: a short, quiet ride poled by hand on a green river, with no meal unless you charter one.¹ ² Yokohama sits in the middle: a dinner boat like Tokyo's, but on a smaller harbour with Minato Mirai and the Bay Bridge as its skyline.¹³

Hamashin's largest boat seats 124, and it is fitted with flush toilets and air conditioning, while a Tokyo boat such as Harumiya's Shirasagi holds 144.¹⁶ ¹⁷ In Kyoto, by contrast, the boats are small enough for a single boatman to pole.

Planning a trip outside Tokyo

For Arashiyama, plan the shared boats for daytime, when they leave every 20 to 40 minutes, and keep an evening free if you want the ukai boats in summer.⁷ ³ Bring cash, because the shared boats and the ukai tickets are cash only.² ³

In bad weather, plans change. In strong wind the Arashiyama boats may close for the day, and the private shamisen boat warns that the boat company can cancel even on sunny days.⁸ Have a backup plan for the afternoon, such as the bamboo grove or a temple nearby, so a cancelled boat does not spoil the day.

For Yokohama, book ahead: Hamashin asks for reservations 5 days before boarding and keeps its boats smoke-free inside, with smoking only on deck.⁴ ¹⁸ And if you only have one evening for a dinner boat, Tokyo's Sumida River cruise gives you river, bay and skyline in one sitting.

Your night on the river