Public hospital, Kamigyo-ku, Kawaramachi.
Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Hospital
A 1,055-bed university hospital on Kawaramachi-dori — the big hospital nearest Gion and Kawaramachi, and the one that publishes an English-language service.
Ambulance and fire: 119. Police: 110. Emergency consultation: #7119.
Show this to your driver
京都府立医科大学附属病院
Say “Furitsu Idai Byoin”, or show the driver 京都府立医科大学附属病院. City buses 4, 7 and 205 run from Kyoto Station to the Furitsu Idai Byoin-mae stop at the gate; on the Keihan line it is about fifteen minutes’ walk from Jingu-Marutamachi or Demachiyanagi.
Kyoto Furitsu Ika Daigaku Fuzoku Byoin, usually shortened to 府立医大病院, Furitsu Idai Byoin.
- TypePublic — the teaching hospital of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, a public university of Kyoto Prefecture
- BedsAbout 1,055
- Address465 Kajii-cho, Kawaramachi-dori Hirokoji-agaru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan
- Switchboard+81 75 251 5111
- Emergency room+81 75 251 5645
- Websiteh.kpu-m.ac.jp
- HoursOutpatient reception weekdays 8:45 to 11:00, consultations from 9:00; closed Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and 29 December to 3 January
- LanguagesThe hospital’s English pages state that English-speaking staff are on call on weekdays during business hours and can help at reception and, on request, during a consultation, while noting that the number of such staff is limited
- AccreditationHospital accreditation from the Japan Council for Quality Health Care. The hospital does not claim JCI or JMIP accreditation, and neither is listed on its site
- On the mapOpen in Google Maps
Kyoto’s prefectural medical university hospital, on Kawaramachi-dori north of the shopping streets, with 1,055 beds and thirty-odd departments. Its English pages, which call it University Hospital, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, say English-speaking staff are on call on weekdays and can help at reception and during a consultation — a rarer thing in Kyoto than a visitor expects. It is a referral hospital, so a letter from a clinic matters here more than anywhere else on this page.
What it is known for
Being the city’s prefectural teaching hospital: 1,055 beds, thirty-four clinical departments, and designations as the prefectural cancer centre, a paediatric cancer hub, a comprehensive perinatal and maternal-child centre and a category one infectious-disease institution. It holds hospital accreditation from the Japan Council for Quality Health Care. None of that is why it is on this page. It is here because its English pages state that English-speaking staff are on call on weekdays during business hours, that they can help at the reception desk and, if asked, during the consultation itself, and because it publishes an emergency room number and guidance written for foreign patients.
Who it suits
Visitors staying around Gion, Kawaramachi, Pontocho or Demachiyanagi who need a real hospital and need to be understood at the desk. It suits a planned problem far better than a sudden one: a clinic or hotel doctor sends you here with a letter, and the hospital does the rest. Without that letter it is the least accommodating of the three — the hospital says a referral is required in principle and warns of a long wait, or a refusal, for anyone who arrives without one. Reception closes at eleven in the morning and the hospital is shut at weekends.
Cost and insurance
A first visit without a referral letter carries a selection fee of 7,700 yen on top of the consultation charge. A traveller is not covered by Japan’s national health insurance and pays the full amount rather than a resident’s share. The hospital publishes a note on medical fees for foreigners without valid Japanese health insurance and asks patients to check with their own insurer whether a Japanese receipt will be accepted — do that before you go, not afterwards. Expect to settle at the end of the visit and claim later; nothing on the site offers to bill a foreign insurer directly.
Getting there
The bus is the simplest way in: city buses 4, 7 and 205 from Kyoto Station, buses 3, 4, 7 and 205 from Hankyu Kawaramachi, and buses 37 and 59 from Sanjo-Keihan all stop at Furitsu Idai Byoin-mae, outside the gate. On the Keihan line it is about fifteen minutes’ walk from either Jingu-Marutamachi or Demachiyanagi, along the river. The hospital publishes an emergency room line, +81 75 251 5645, and asks that you telephone before coming out of hours; in a true emergency call 119 instead.
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
- Japanese Red Cross Kyoto Daiichi HospitalPublic, about 602 beds, Tofukuji, one stop from Kyoto Station.
- Kyoto City HospitalPublic, about 538 beds, Mibu, west of Shijo-Omiya.