One of the best books you can read about Kyoto is a novel by Yasunari Kawabata: The Old Capital. It is both a great story, and a wonderful guide to the city and its seasonal traditions. One of the most famous scenes in that book is in the gardens of Heian Jingu when the characters Chieko and Shin'ichi go to see the cherry blossoms. I visited Heian Jingu yesterday to see these … [Read more...] about Cherry Blossoms at Heian Jingu
Literature
京町家の再生 – Machiya Revival in Kyoto
I've just finished reading this fine little book about the machiya (町家) of Kyoto. Machiya are the traditional narrow wooden townhouses of the old capital. Once, their tiled roofs and wooden lattice fronts typified Kyoto’s urban landscape. However, since the end of WW2 this traditional landscape has in large part been replaced by high rise buildings and parking lots. 13% of … [Read more...] about 京町家の再生 – Machiya Revival in Kyoto
Kyoto: A Cultural History
Disclosure: Links in this article to Amazon or Amazon Japan are affiliate links. The owner of this website may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. In the movie “Lost in Translation”, the character of Charlotte (played by Scarlett Johansson) takes a day trip alone to Kyoto. As she wanders through a temple and a shrine her sense of being lost in this alien land is … [Read more...] about Kyoto: A Cultural History
