Work is nearing completion on a new Four Seasons hotel sat in an 800 year old garden in Japan’s ancient imperial capital Kyoto.

The Four Seasons Kyoto, which will open on 15 October 2016, has been designed by architecture studio Kume Sekkei and interior design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates to reflect a “contemporary evolution of traditional Japanese style”.

Inspired by traditional design elements and motifs, the guest rooms will feature polished woods, shoji paper panels, locally crafted Kyoto-style fusuma screens and a natural colour palette. Soft lighting will be provided from washi-paper lamps.

The hotel will also feature a ballroom, a spa, an indoor pool and four dining venues – including a sushi bar and a sukiya tea house in the garden, accessible via a glass bridge. All will be housed in a building with double height windows to maximise the views of outdoor cherry blossoms, temples and Higashiyama Mountain.

The spa will feature six single treatment rooms, a VIP suite, a salon for hair, nail and skin treatments and a modern fitness centre.

Four Seasons Kyoto will join a sister property in Tokyo, with the hotel operator encouraging visitors to the country to visit both “to experience two very different sides of Japan.”

Kyoto is one of Japan's best-preserved historic cities, with intact palaces, gardens, 1,600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shinto shrines and 17 World Heritage Sites.

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