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Many temples and shrines in Kyoto are associated with particular wagashi, Japanese sweets (also called Kyogashi, Kyoto sweets), either because these were indeed associated with the temple, or because a famous shop started selling them “in front of the gate.” Here is a list of the best ones.

[The fox of the Fushimi Inari Shrine]

Fushimi Inari Shrine: Inari Sembei (fox rice biscuits). Shop: Inariya.
Rice biscuits in the form of a fox face - the fox is the messenger of the Inari Shrine. They come in all sizes and are flavored with white-miso.

Toji Temple: dorayaki (gong cakes). Shop: Sasayaori.
Two small pancakes with a filling of sweet bean paste (an) in-between. Sold the three days before and after the monthly Kobo Daishi Memorial on the 21st. Used to be the snack of the monks training in the temple. The name perhaps originates in the fact that the pancakes were baked on a temple gong (or because the snack itself looks like a dora, a temple gong).

Iwashimizu Hachimangu: hashirai-mochi (”Running Well” rice cakes). Shop: Hashiraimochi-Roho.
The red bean paste inside these rice cakes shines through the thin skin of the rice in which it is wrapped. Originally made in Otsu with water from the famous Hashirai Well, which gave the cakes their name. The shop moved in the Meiji-period to the town in front of the gate of the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine and now is associated with that establishment.

Kamigoryo Shrine: kara-ita sembei (China-board rice crackers). Shop: Mizuta Gyokuundo.
Connected with the Kamigoryo Shrine, these flat rice crackers were offered at the shrine at the time of an epidemic and have since been eaten for good health.

[Mitarashi Pond in Shimogamo Jinja's grounds]

Shimogamo Shrine: mitarashi dango (mitarashi dumplings). Shop: Kamo Mitarashi Jaya.
These skewered rice dumplings served in a sweet sauce take their name and distinctive shape from the bubbles produced at the Mitarashi (”cleansing” or “purifying”) Pond in the grounds of the Shimogamo Shrine. They come with five on a stick, the one at the top separated slightly from the rest, as if a single bubble is followed by four in a row. This is what Emperor Godaigo once saw in the pond when ladling up water. Gotai also means the five (go) parts of the body and the body itself (tai).

Kamigamo Shrine: yaki-mochi (baked rice cakes with a pun on “jealousy”). Shop: Jinbado, Aoi Yakimochi Honpo.
Although known popularly as yakimochi, these simple cakes, baked on both sides, have been imprinted with the hollyhock sign of the Kamigamo Shrine.　Production takes places on a large metal plate.

Miyake Hachiman Shrine: hato-mochi (dove rice cakes). Shop: Miyake Hachiman Chaya.
Soft rice cakes in the form of a dove, usually white, but there are also green tea flavored ones and brown ones. They are very soft, made from rice flour rather than rice, and almost without a clear taste. The shrine is known as a place to say prayers for the health of children and as a protector against convulsive fits. The dove　is the messenger of Hachiman.

[The Ichiwa and Kazariya in front of the Imamiya Shrine]

Imamiya Shrine: aburi-mochi (grilled rice-cakes). Shops: Ichiwa and Kazariya.
Thumb-sized pieces of rice cake, threaded on a bamboo skewer. Roasted over a charcoal fire, and then dipped into a sweet sauce made from white miso.

Kitano Tenmangu Shrine: awa-mochi (millet rice-cakes). Shop: Sawaya; & chogoro-mochi (Chogoro rice-cakes). Shop: Chogoro-mochi Honpo.
Awa-mochi are - as the name indicates - made from millet instead of rice and come covered in sweet bean paste or soybean flour (kinako). The shop is already in business for 300 years. Chogoro-mochi were offered to Hideyoshi when he held the great tea ceremony in the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. They are simple sweets, just sweet bean paste inside a thinly layered rice cake.