What is the oldest tree in Kyoto?
Kyoto's oldest tree with a documented planting date is the great camphor of Imakumano Shrine, planted in 1160 on the order of the retired emperor Go-Shirakawa, who had it brought from the Kumano shrines in Wakayama. It is roughly 866 years old and still grows in the shrine's grounds in Higashiyama Ward, a two minute walk from Sennyuji-michi bus stop.
The camphor at Imakumano Shrine has a planting date most ancient trees never get: 1160, the year the retired emperor Go-Shirakawa founded the shrine as a branch of the Kumano sanctuaries in Wakayama, and reportedly had this tree brought north with the transplant. Camphor trees are native to warmer parts of Japan and Kumano's coast fits that range better than inland Kyoto, which makes the tree itself a small piece of evidence for the transplant story, not just a legend attached after the fact. It has grown since into a trunk 6.58 metres around and a canopy spreading 23.5 metres east to west, a size camphors, among Japan's longest lived broadleaf trees, take centuries to reach. A deeper claim exists in the hills northwest of the city: a cedar in the Katanami river headwaters said to be 1,200 years old, tied to the same forests that supplied timber for the original Heian-kyo palace. That tree's age is harder to confirm and needs prior arrangement with the city to visit, which is why the documented camphor answers this question instead. Getting to Imakumano Shrine: Keihan Bus to Sennyuji-michi from Kyoto Station, then a two minute walk.
One of Kyoto's trees also appears in Autumn Worth the Trip, a themed collection spanning several cities.