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京都市立病院
Say “Kyoto Shiritsu Byoin”, or show the driver 京都市立病院. City buses 23 and 75 run from Kyoto Station to the Shiritsu Byoin-mae stop outside the gate; it is ten minutes’ walk west of JR Tanbaguchi station on the Sagano line out to Arashiyama.
Kyoto Shiritsu Byoin. The city bus stop at the gate is 市立病院前, Shiritsu Byoin-mae.
- TypePublic — the city’s own hospital, run by the Kyoto City Hospital Organization
- BedsAbout 538
- Address1-2 Mibu Higashi-Takada-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8845, Japan
- Switchboard+81 75 311 5311
- Websitekch-org.jp
- HoursOutpatient reception weekdays 8:30 to 11:00; emergency reception at any time for internal medicine, surgery and paediatrics — on weekdays from 11:00 until 8:30 the next morning, and all day at weekends and on public holidays
- LanguagesJapanese, with English, Chinese and Korean versions of its website. The hospital runs a free medical interpreter service: English on Friday mornings from 9:00 to 12:00 by appointment made five working days ahead, Chinese on Tuesdays and Fridays without an appointment, Korean on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays by appointment
- Opened1965
- On the mapOpen in Google Maps
Kyoto’s municipal hospital, open since 1965 and rebuilt since, with 538 beds at Mibu on the western side of the centre. It takes emergency patients at any hour for internal medicine, surgery and paediatrics, publishes its site in English, Chinese and Korean, and runs a free medical interpreter service — English on Friday mornings, booked five working days ahead, which is useful for a planned visit and no use at all for a sudden one.
What it is known for
Being the city’s own hospital rather than a university’s or a charity’s. It opened in December 1965 and now holds 538 beds — 518 general, twelve for tuberculosis and eight for infectious diseases, a mix that says something about the public duties a municipal hospital carries. Emergency reception is open at any hour for internal medicine, surgery and paediatrics: on weekdays from eleven in the morning through to half past eight the next, and all day at weekends and on public holidays. It is the only hospital on this page that publishes a medical interpreter service, and the service is free.
Who it suits
Visitors staying west of the centre — around Shijo-Omiya, Nijo or Saiin — and anyone heading out along the Sagano line towards Arashiyama, which passes within ten minutes’ walk. It is a general city hospital rather than a tertiary trauma centre, so it suits an illness, an infection or an injury that needs a doctor rather than a resuscitation team; Kyoto’s gravest cases go to the emergency and critical care centres. If your visit can be planned a week ahead, the free English interpreter on Friday mornings makes this the easiest hospital in the city to be understood at.
Cost and insurance
A visitor pays the full amount, as everywhere in Japan, and settles at the cashier before leaving. The hospital says a first-visit patient without a referral letter may be charged a selection fee but does not publish the figure, so ask at the desk what it will be before you register — at the other two hospitals here the same charge runs to 7,700 yen. The interpreter is free but must be booked five working days in advance, which rules it out for anything sudden. Ask for an itemised receipt and a medical certificate in English if you intend to claim.
Getting there
City buses 23 and 75 run from Kyoto Station to the Shiritsu Byoin-mae stop outside the hospital, and bus 205 stops at Nishioji-Gojo, three minutes to the east. It is about ten minutes’ walk west of JR Tanbaguchi on the Sagano line — the Arashiyama line — and about fifteen minutes north from either the Hankyu or the Randen station at Saiin. Taxis are quick from the Shijo-Omiya area. For anything urgent, dial 119: the call and the ambulance are free, and the crew choose the hospital.
Details checked against the hospital’s own website, September 2026. Call before a non-urgent visit; in an emergency call 119 or the hospital’s own emergency line above. Travel information, not medical advice.
The other 2 hospitals in Kyoto
- Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine HospitalPublic, about 1,055 beds, Kawaramachi-dori, north of Gion.
- Japanese Red Cross Kyoto Daiichi HospitalPublic, about 602 beds, Tofukuji, one stop from Kyoto Station.