Philosopher's Path (Tetsugaku no Michi), North End

This guide to the Philosopher's Path in Kyoto follows Nishida Kitaro, a philosophy professor who walked this canal-side stretch nearly every day for eighteen years starting in 1910, thinking his way toward a system that could hold Zen Buddhism and Western logic together. You'll hear how those daily walks shaped the founder of the Kyoto School, and about words he had carved in stone here in 1934 as nationalist politics tightened around him. Look for the low stone marker near the water as you walk.