Buy ICOCA, then pick an axis
Buy ICOCA or PiTaPa at KIX or Kyoto Station. A city-bus day pass is bus-only; subway+bus is another product; Osaka Metro day passes do not work in Kyoto. First three days: Higashiyama → Arashiyama or Fushimi → Kinkaku or Ginkaku.
One look at the station, then leave
The grand stair is the building, not the itinerary. One ramen bowl is fine, then your locked axis. Do not jam Kiyomizu and Kinkaku into the same morning.
Sleep in Osaka or Kyoto
From Umeda/Namba, sample Fushimi or Higashiyama once — see Osaka’s Kyoto day-trip. For three+ full axes, sleep Kawaramachi or by the station and use this pack.