Getting down to street level
KYOTO, JAPAN - When you approach the city by train, it looks like an urban mess - a city designed by architects who hate people. Rooftops seem to link with rooftops and everywhere, industry surrounds you.
But, like much of Japan, what you see in Kyoto is not what you get. In Kyoto, you have to get down to street level to find its heart.
The tiny streets and the narrow alleyways off the main thoroughfares teem with people. In much of the city, in all directions, you’ll find restaurants, clothing stores, boutiques, food shops, vendors, and “love hotels”, which rent rooms by the hour to young couples who can’t afford privacy any other way because of crowded living conditions.
Walking down many Kyoto streets makes you realize you’re walking through a living time capsule, especially when you come across the many temples and shrines. The history of Kyoto, and of Japan, is one of war and blood. It was on the coasts, inland valleys and plains that surround Kyoto that the great civil wars took place over a 900-year period, ending only a little more than a century ago. The architectural beauty of Kyoto is a direct result of those wars between family and political factions.
The greatest temples and the most cherished shrines were located in Kyoto because it was inland and surrounded on three sides by mountains. During those wars, Kyoto remained Japan’s most secure enclave.
Modern Kyoto is one of the few Japanese cities in which a tourist can find his way easily. It was, from its inception, designed with orderly numbered streets, a model city patterned after the capital of T’ang dynasty China, and was originally given the name Hein-Kyo or City Of Peace.
Kyoto was, unfortunately, anything but peaceful. The wars between families and Shoguns (the equivalent of local generals) didn’t end until unification in1868.
Oddly, it was also during this ongoing bloodbath that much of Japanese art was established in Kyoto - the No drama, the tea ceremony, ikebana (flower arranging), and the first novel.
Several times destroyed by fire and war, Kyoto has always been rebuilt in its original style. A mixture of residences, assembly halls, parks and gardens, it includes the Shisiden (Hall Of Ceremonies) and the famous Sakon no Sakura - a blossoming cherry tree often mentioned in the old records.
Religion is so firmly rooted in Japanese culture it is impossible to separate the two. The complex flavor of Japan is due in large part to its religions - Shinto (the original Japanese religion) and Buddhism. Most Japanese follow aspects of both religions. When a Japanese baby is born, the local Shinto shrine is notified. When someone dies, a priest from the local Buddhist temple officiates. In Kyoto there are over 2000 temples, shrines and gardens mixed into this city of 1.5 million.
If you visit Kyoto, you won’t find a perfect utopian city. But among the hurrying crowds of tourists and the often ultra-modern residents, is a city in which the past can never be forgotten.
KYOTO, JAPAN - When you approach the city by train, it looks like an urban mess - a city designed by architects who hate people. Rooftops seem to link with rooftops and everywhere, industry surrounds you.
But, like much of Japan, what you see in Kyoto is not what you get. In Kyoto, you have to get down to street level to find its heart.
The tiny streets and the narrow alleyways off the main thoroughfares teem with people. In much of the city, in all directions, you’ll find restaurants, clothing stores, boutiques, food shops, vendors, and “love hotels”, which rent rooms by the hour to young couples who can’t afford privacy any other way because of crowded living conditions.Walking down many Kyoto streets makes you realize you’re walking through a living time capsule, especially when you come across the many temples and shrines. The history of Kyoto, and of Japan, is one of war and blood. It was on the coasts, inland valleys and plains that surround Kyoto that the great civil wars took place over a 900-year period, ending only a little more than a century ago. The architectural beauty of Kyoto is a direct result of those wars between family and political factions.
The greatest temples and the most cherished shrines were located in Kyoto because it was inland and surrounded on three sides by mountains. During those wars, Kyoto remained Japan’s most secure enclave.
Modern Kyoto is one of the few Japanese cities in which a tourist can find his way easily. It was, from its inception, designed with orderly numbered streets, a model city patterned after the capital of T’ang dynasty China, and was originally given the name Hein-Kyo or City Of Peace.Kyoto was, unfortunately, anything but peaceful. The wars between families and Shoguns (the equivalent of local generals) didn’t end until unification in1868.
Oddly, it was also during this ongoing bloodbath that much of Japanese art was established in Kyoto - the No drama, the tea ceremony, ikebana (flower arranging), and the first novel.
Several times destroyed by fire and war, Kyoto has always been rebuilt in its original style. A mixture of residences, assembly halls, parks and gardens, it includes the Shisiden (Hall Of Ceremonies) and the famous Sakon no Sakura - a blossoming cherry tree often mentioned in the old records.
Religion is so firmly rooted in Japanese culture it is impossible to separate the two. The complex flavor of Japan is due in large part to its religions - Shinto (the original Japanese religion) and Buddhism. Most Japanese follow aspects of both religions. When a Japanese baby is born, the local Shinto shrine is notified. When someone dies, a priest from the local Buddhist temple officiates. In Kyoto there are over 2000 temples, shrines and gardens mixed into this city of 1.5 million.
If you visit Kyoto, you won’t find a perfect utopian city. But among the hurrying crowds of tourists and the often ultra-modern residents, is a city in which the past can never be forgotten.
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