Will Kyoto hotels release more rooms for Nov?

When trying to book hotels for November this year in several places but especially Kyoto, many are already booked out. I thought I was early with it only being May... guess others have been even earlier.
The remaining rooms are severely jacked up more than double the usual price, and yet there may be some hotels who don't seem to have made rooms available for booking yet for December since it is still over 6 months out (don't know this for a fact, just says no rooms at all even for one night so I suspect that is the case).

I have been to kyoto twice before and never really had difficulty booking a hotel, but this is the first time I am going at this time. I know November/early Dec is a popular time though.

I was wondering if I should just grab whatever is available now even if not the room types I want (twin vs single large bed, larger or smaller room than desired etc), or will the hotels "release" more rooms for booking later in the year?

Thanks.

If I were you, I would book a cancelable room just in case and check the availability again over the next few months.

You are looking at foliage season, which is one of the most expensive and crowded times for Kyoto. If your planned dates include a weekend there, this could be a reason why some hotels you are interested in are unavailable for whatever date range you are searching on. Saturday nights are especially bad (and expensive). If you could tweak your itinerary so you donft need to stay in Kyoto on a weekend, you might have an easier time. And a more pleasant experience when you get there.

If you are looking only at weekdays, I kind of expect you shouldnft have trouble finding rooms this far out, given the glut of hotels in Kyoto nowadays. But I wouldnft count on hotels releasing more rooms. There are definitely hotels there that donft open their bookings more than about four months in advance, but you donft want to take a chance by waiting too long, especially if you have fixed dates in mind and absolutely want to sleep in Kyoto.

Have you considered staying somewhere close by? You might be surprised at how much money you can save by finding a hotel that is around 30 minutes away by train, and it doesnft have to be a packed commuter train. If you have an applicable rail pass you could use comfortable limited express trains to get into and out of Kyoto, and quite possibly save enough money on hotel rooms to pay for the rail pass, which could of course cover trips to other places as well.

Sorry, I said to keep an eye on availability, but I was thinking of prices. 3rd party platforms sometimes have limited time sales (I used to check the prices through Google, but I am using Tripadvisor's price comparator nowadays). This is a hassle people usually don't want to go through, but cancelling and rebooking the same room, in the same hotel, on the same platform, has, on some occasions, let me save up to 50% off the initial price I paid. Mind you, it is unlikely to work for weekend nights.

Wait until 6 months out.

November is six months out, so don't expect rooms to be "released - they are out now (apart from a few smaller places). And what you are seeing is not "jacked up" room rates, but the new prices hotels in Kyoto are charging. Prices moved 20% on averae in the past 12 months, and given forward bookings and increases in demand, you are seeing rates for the last few rooms that might be available at better hotels.
I did most of my October and November bookings in January.

I think that you should book whatever you can now (with the ability to cancel) and then keep checking for better rooms / prices. You may not get anything better or cheaper and will need to be at peace with that. However, just today, I've canceled and re-booked exactly the same room in Morioka for 3 nights in July. In February, the price was Y61642. Today it's Y38318. I thought the initial price was too high so I kept checking and today it paid off. :)

Thanks everyone.
I am glad I am not the only one thinking wow everything is a lot more expensive this year compared to my last trip. I guess inflation has caught up to Japan too... I enjoyed the "stuck in time" prices while it lasted my last couple trips.
I will take your advice to book cancellable and preferably no prepayment hotels, then continue to browse for deals or upgrades over the coming months.

@ jth_travel was lucky. A lot of the places I have been booking are 50% higher than the initial rates I have been seeing. Reductions do happen, but maybe at less desirable places, hence availability.