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Walking Tour 5

GION AREA

The Gion Shrine, the Pleasure Quarters and the Floating World

1 Yasaka Shrine (Gion Shrine) 八坂神社

2 The Pleasure Quarters

花街 （祇園、先斗町、嶋原）

3 Ichi-riki Ochaya 一力茶屋

4 Central Kyoto 京都中心街（寺町通）

The section of Kyoto bounded by Sanjo-dori (Third Street) and Shijo-dori (Fourth Street) on both sides of the Kamo-gawa (Kamo River) can truly be called Kyoto’s “Pleasure Quarters.” There are historic reasons for this, primarily because the section of the city to the east of the Kamo River encompasses the Gion district which, since the late 1500s, has been the geisha and ochaya (tea house) section, and here it was that kabuki also had its beginnings. Although the ranks of geisha have thinned in modern times, the geisha and the ochaya still have their places here, and kabuki continues to delight its followers on the stage of the Minami-za (South Theater) in Gion.

The area to the west of the Kamo River offers a different type of pleasure, since the streets between Karasuma-dori on the west, the Kamo River on the east, Shijo-dori on the south and Oike-dori on the north form a shopper’s paradise. Here, department stores and specialty shops can please the most avid of consumers, be they connoisseurs of the finest of crafts and of fashion or devotees of the latest in tourist ephemera.

Although modern commercialism abounds within this crowded enclave, traditional pleasures are not overlooked. Each year during July, this area enjoys the annual Gion Festival, when the great Gion carts are pulled by men in traditional attire in memory of the city’s deliverance from a plague many centuries ago. That ceremony begins at the Yasaka Jinja (Yaskaka Shrine), commonly called Gion Shrine, to the east of the river, and that is where this walk will also begin.

The main two-story gateway (Ro-mon) leading to Yasaka Shrine.

1 YASAKA SHRINE (GION SHRINE)

Yasaka Shrine (or Gion Shrine) is one of the most important Shinto shrines in Kyoto, and is much beloved by its citizens. The shrine is located near downtown at the intersection of Shijo-dori and Higashi-oji-dori. It is open at all times. No admission fee is charged.

As the shrine to the spirit of the kami (deity) who is honored at the great Gion Festival, Yasaka Shrine is the starting point for the festival procession that winds its way through the streets of Kyoto every July 17th. It is also a special center for worship on New Year’s Day and on other traditional occasions.

Reputedly founded in 656 AD, before the creation of Kyoto as a city, the shrine is dedicated to the Shinto deities Susa-no-o-mikoto (the wayward brother of Amaterasu, the supposed progenitor of the Emperor’s line), his spouse Inada-hime-no-mikoto and their five sons and three daughters. It became an important center of worship after Kyoto was established as the capital of Japan in the 790s since epidemics were often rampant, and Susa-no-o was regarded as the Shinto god of medicine. An epidemic in 869 AD led to the origin of the Gion Festival, when thousands prayed to Susa-no-o for relief from the spread of the plague. The head priest of the shrine led a procession of citizens through the city as a supplication to the god and, when the plaque ended, this event became a popular festival that has continued ever since.

Under the movement known as Ryobu (Dual) Shinto, beginning in the 800s, an attempt was made by the Buddhist clergy to show that the Shinto deities (whom the mass of the people then still preferred to the Buddhist gods) were but temporary manifestations in Japan of the major Buddhas and Bodhisattva. Thus, an amalgamation of the two faiths developed, and most Shinto shrines came under the control of Buddhist monks. Even the architecture of many shrines (the Yasaka Shrine, for example) took on the style of Buddhist religious buildings. With the restoration of Imperial rule in 1868, Buddhism was forced to separate from Shinto, and Shinto shrines reverted to a non-Buddhist form—albeit certain practices and architectural styles of Buddhism were retained. Thus Yasaka Shrine became solely a Shinto shrine once more, although its Buddhist overtones remain in its architecture.

You approach the shrine from Shijo-dori by means of a brief set of steps that lead to the Ro-mon, the main two-story gateway of the Muromachi period (1497), with its vermilion posts and white walls. A Shinto guardian in each bay on the sides of the entryway stands sentinel against any evil influences that might impinge on these sacred grounds. Once beyond the entry gateway, an additional brief set of steps, guarded by stone koma-inu (Korean lion-dogs), leads to a torii and the main area of the shrine.

Within the shrine grounds there are a number of buildings, both large and small, dedicated to various Shinto kami (deities). The main portion of the shrine has a roofed purification water basin ahead on the right. To its left, in the center of the precinct, is the roofed Heiden (Offertory), while the important Honden (Spirit Hall) is further to the left. Beyond the Heiden to the right is the kagura, the roofed ceremonial stage for religious performances. On the northern edge of the precincts are the storage buildings for the Gion Festival mikoshi (portable shrines). Most of the shrine buildings date from a 1654 reconstruction, and some of the mikoshi storage units are enhanced with paintings commissioned by worshippers of the shrine deities.

Worshippers bowing before the shingle-roofed Honden at Yasaka Shrine.

The Honden (Spirit Hall), the most important structure of the shrine, is a single-story building with a half-hipped and a half-gabled roof covered with thick wood shingles. This main structure is painted vermilion and is 69 feet (21 m) long by 57 feet (17 m) deep. Three long ropes are suspended from the front overhanging roof, with a metal pan-shaped bell at the top of the ropes. These ropes are pulled by worshippers to sound the bell so as to attract the attention of the shrine’s kami before bowing with hands held in prayer. On the south side of the grounds, a second entrance to the shrine is through a 30 foot (9 m) tall stone torii from 1646, one of the largest such Shinto stone gateways in Japan. Beyond it, a large vermilion gate with Shinto protecting archers on each side of the entryway has gifts of matted casks of saké stacked to its rear.

The Yasaka Shrine is much frequented by the citizens of Kyoto, some wearing modern dress, others adorned in traditional kimono. One of the most charming sights is to see recently born infants (often held by proud grandmothers in formal, traditional attire) being brought for registration at the shrine— or children in formal kimono or hakama when they are brought to the shrine in November at the time of the Shichi-go-san (7–5–3) Festival for blessings by shrine attendants.

Although there are frequent fair days at the Yasaka Shrine, a number of festivals are outstanding, the New Year festival at the beginning of January and the Gion Festival in July in particular. Okera Mairi is the name of the New Year festival, and on New Year’s Eve an herb called okera is burned in the lanterns at the shrine from 8:00 p.m. through to the dawn of New Year’s Day. It was customary in the past to come to the shrine with a thin rope, which was then lit from the lanterns, or to obtain a few embers in a pot, which could then be taken home to light the cooking fire of the New Year (before modern kitchen stoves). If one lit one’s cooking fire from the sacred shrine fire and cooked zoni (rice cake boiled with vegetables) on New Year’s Day, health and happiness were bound to ensue throughout the New Year. Hopes for a good New Year can be further insured by attending the shrine on New Year’s Day to pray. On this occasion, traditional dress is often worn by women, and maiko (apprentice geisha) attend in black kimono with a white pattern. Maiko also place ears of rice in their hair to mark this festive occasion.

The annual Gion Festival features a colorful parade of floats and participants dressed in traditional attire.

On February 3–4, the Setsubun celebration marks the traditional end of the coldest part of winter. Beans are scattered in temples and shrines to drive out demons and to bring in good luck for the new season. The ceremony is celebrated at many temples, but at Yasaka Shrine an evening bonfire brings the bean scattering festivities to a close. Another festival, held on May 2, is the Chatsu Dochu ceremony: each spring prior to 1868, the Shogun required the tea dealers of Uji to present the first tea leaves of the year to his provisioners packed in large ceramic jars. In remem brance of this event, large tea jars are paraded from the Kennin-ji Templealong Yamato-oji-dorito Shijo-dori and thus to Yasaka Shrine by bearers in costumes of the past.

The Gion Festival is the most spectacular of the shrine events. The first ceremony to mark the festival begins on July 2, when the shrine mikoshi (portable shrines) are taken from their storage sheds and are blessed for the coming festival (11:30 a.m.). On July 10, the most important shrine mikoshi is carried to the Kamo River for a ceremonial cleansing and purification by the chief priest of the shrine. Afterwards, the mikoshi is carried back to the shrine on the shoulders of the young men who took it to the river (7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.). On that same day, celebrants in traditional garb welcome three mikoshi of Yasaka Shrine as the Gion Festival season starts (5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.). With lanterns on long poles, they accompany the mikoshi to City Hall, at the intersection of Oike-dori and Kawaramachi-dori, and there dance groups perform at 6:00 p.m. in front of the City Hall building. Thereafter, the procession returns to Yasaka Shrine.

From July 15 to 17 the main events of the Gion Festival occur. This great festival is celebrated by the people of Kyoto as well as by thousands of visitors who come to the city specially for the occasion. On July 15–16, the festival carts are stationed along Shijo-dori west of the Kamo River, where they may be viewed close up, and music and festivities occur each night. On the morning of July 17, the festival parade of many large and small floats takes place along Kawaramachi-dori and Oike-dori; stands along Oike-dori provide seats, which may be reserved in advance. This summer festival provides a colorful and intriguing time, both for its participants and those who observe the carts and the costumes of other centuries. Other festivals and ceremonies occur at the Yasaka Shrine throughout the year. These are listed in the monthly calendar distributed by hotels and the Kyoto Tourist Office.

2 THE PLEASURE QUARTERS

Leaving Yasaka Shrine from the main entrance at Higashi-ojo-dori, Shijo-dori lies straight ahead. This street is the main route for the next portion of this walk, some diversions to its north or south occurring along the way. The geisha districts of Gion are to the south of this street, while the geisha areas of Shimbashi are to the north.

Beginning in the late 1500s, with the revival of Kyoto life at the end of a century or more of wars, the original pleasure districts of Kyoto developed on either side of the Kamo River just below and above Shijo-dori. Today, the geisha quarters, ochaya (tea houses), restaurants and theaters are still located in these districts.

Performers in the classical Japanese dance-drama kabuki wear elaborate costumes and make-up.

The Pleasure Quarters of Kyoto, in particular the Pontocho, Gion and Shimbashi areas, present aspects of Japanese life that deserve an adequate description. Since the activities of portions of these quarters are by their nature only quasi-public (language, expense and proper introduction barring most foreigners from the ochaya and the world of the geisha), and since the theater performances that offer a sampling of geisha talents and an introduction to the tea ceremony are restricted to certain times of the year, an introduction to the Pleasure Quarters follows.

The areas on either side of the Kamo River at Shijo-dori (as well as the dry areas of the river bed) became the center of the Pleasure Quarters of Kyoto from the late 1500s. With the prosperity that began under Hideyoshi in the 1580s, and which continued under the Tokugawa Shoguns, a new merchant class developed in Kyoto. Although the merchants were the lowest class of society as far as official policy was concerned, they were prosperous and had money to spend. Thus, the Shoguns permitted them some leeway in behavior (other than was normally prescribed for their class) in the “licensed quarters,” where they could find entertainment and pleasure of various kinds.

Four elements composed the divertissements of the Pleasure Quarters. There were the restaurants or tea houses on either side of the river—as well as on the dry river bed in the summer, where dining could take place— and many of these continue to serve the public today along the narrow stone-paved pathway of Pontocho and on the west bank of the Kamo River. There were the ochaya, in which the geisha and maiko (apprentice geisha) entertained the wealthier of Kyoto’s pleasure seekers. There were, as well, the theaters for kabuki, bunraku (puppet plays), and other such forms of cultural entertainment. Lastly, there was the illicit trade of prostitutes (both female and male), of which the puritanical Shoguns did not approve but condoned, within limits, in recognition that certain activities could never be fully controlled by either Confucian precepts or governmental decrees.

KABUKI The art of kabuki had its beginnings here in the late 1590s when a young woman, in the service of the great Shinto shrine of Izumo on the Japan Sea, appeared in Kyoto. A performer of sacred Shinto dances, Izumo-no-Okuni began to offer such dances in 1596 in an improvised “theater” on the dry bed of the Kamo in the Shijo-dori district. (A plaque on the west wall of the Minami-za Theater at Shijo-dori on the east side of the Kamo River commemorates Okuni’s perfor-mances at this river bed location.) Okuni and her small group of female dancers performed the Nembutsu Odori, a religious dance that had its roots in the religious “dances” practiced by Priest Kuya (see Rokuhara-mitsu-ji in Tour 4) many years before. This religious observance had developed into a type of folk dance that, although it had roots in religious practice, had become a form of popular entertainment as well. (The O-Bon dances in many communities in Japan in August continue this tradition.)

Maiko (apprentice geisha) stop for a chat in the Gion district.

THE ENIGMATIC GEISHA

Despite Kyoto’s male-dominated associations, the women in Kyoto have always had a part to play in the pleasure quarters (aside from the activities of prostitutes, whom society neither recognized nor condoned but who continued to flourish). A group of entertainers known as geisha sprang up, women of talent who could dance, sing, play on traditional instruments, carry on witty conversations and, above all, please the male patrons of the ochaya in which they practiced their arts. The role of the geisha was an honorable one, the word itself implying a trained artist. Geisha were not prostitutes, as is sometimes supposed in the West, although they often became the lovers of well-to-do patrons who supported them, the cost of their costumes and grooming and their general upkeep being exceedingly expensive.)

Two areas became the center of the ochaya in which geisha entertained those who could afford an evening of their professional services of song and dance—as well as the delights of the palate as catered to by the ochaya owners. These ochaya developed both north and south of Shijo-dori— along Hanami-koji-dori on either side of Shijo and along the Shirokawa River to the north of Shijo. This latter came to be known as the Shimbashi (New Bridge) district, from a bridge across that narrow river. Both the Kamo and Shirakawa Rivers were much given to flooding; by 1670 an attempt was made to control the overflowing of these rivers, and they were contained within walls. This led to an increase in the land available for development. An improved and expanded pleasure district resulted to the east of the Kamo River, tea houses and theaters flourished, and from 1712 the ochaya of Gion were licensed by the government for geisha performances.

In Okuni’s hands, the Okuni Odori was able to blend folk, Shinto and Buddhist dance forms into a popular format that was soon imitated by other female performers. The popularity of her dances can be ascertained by the fact that Toyotomi Hideyoshi is said not only to have viewed them with pleasure, but that he rewarded Okuni with a coral necklace. From these religious dances, Okuni and her group soon branched out into a type of primitive theater of a farcical nature that came to be known as kabuki. Many of her skits (for they were not really plays in an artistic sense) were of an erotic nature, concerning the relationships of young men and prostitutes in bath houses and tea houses. (Some of her cohorts were well suited by inclination and experience to portray aspects of the seamier side of life with great realism.) These farcical skits eventually came to the attention and displeasure of the authorities, and by 1629 the Shogun had banned such female performances.

Accordingly, another form of kabuki developed, with young men (many of them very attractive late adolescents) as the actors. Much given to acrobatics and mock sword play, these young actors soon developed a following of their own—particularly among the samurai and Buddhist priests who vied for the young men’s charms. These two social classes were not supposed to attend functions that were primarily licensed for the merchant class—the lowest form of society in Tokugawa times. But attend they did, and many of these attractive youths aroused a passion among their viewers (homosexuality being accepted by many samurai and priests.) In the fights that broke out among the members of the audience for the favor of particular actors, there was a breakdown of decorum that the Shogun could not permit. Thus, in 1652 “young men’s kabuki ” was banned—but not until after the death of Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–51), who himself reputedly had a certain fondness for youthful actors.

Thereafter, kabuki was permitted to continue if the performers were adult males— and o stensibly less physically or emotionally attractive to the audience. Women’s roles were taken by males (onnegata), a tradition which continues to this day. By the Genroku period (1658–1710), a full-fledged kabuki drama had developed, with plays being written by capable authors, such as Chikamatsu, and with stagecraft that was innovative and spectacular, with its revolving stages, trap doors and other theatrical devices.

The Ichi-riki ochaya, a 300-year-old red walled wooden place of geisha entertainment.

3 ICHI-RIKI OCHAYA

The areas of Shimbashi (along the Shirakawa River to the north of Shijo-dori and Gion (south of Shijo-dori) are still the heart of the geisha quarter of Kyoto. While many of the two-story tea houses in these two districts appear to be very old, most of them were built after the great fire of 1864, which devastated this area of Kyoto. Ochaya are generally wooden two-story, architecturally traditional buildings with protruding rust-colored, latticed windows (bengari goshi) on the first floor and sudare (reed screens) for privacy flapping in the breeze on the second floor. A noren (short curtain over the entryway with the name of the establishment upon it), and inaru yarai (“dog screens,” slatted and curved bamboo barriers that keep dogs and people at a proper distance from the first floor windows and walls of the building), provide a distinctive ambience to the scene.

Several entire streets in Shirakawa and Gion preserve these traditional buildings, thereby providing an idea of what Kyoto looked like in days gone by. Today in Gion, some 119 ochaya exist where an evening can be spent at a dinner with entertainment by geisha and maiko. In 1974, Kyoto placed the Gion and Shimbashi districts under special protection, and the areas were made into a Preservation District the following year. In 1976, architectural guidelines were set for seven distinct ochaya facades, and grants subsidized by the city have assisted in the maintenance of the facades of the buildings in these two Preservation Districts.

Of all these, the more than 300-year-old Ichi-riki ochaya on the corner of Shijo-dori and Hanamoi-koji-dori is the most noted. It is known not only for its traditional architecture and ambience, but as a locale where famous historic events have taken place.

Here, Oishi Yoshio (1659–1703) led a life of planned dissoluteness, giving himself over to the frivolous life of the Pleasure Quarters, seemingly drinking to excess—all to disguise his real intentions and thereby mislead the Shogun’s spies who were observing him. Oishi was a ronin, a masterless samurai who no longer had a lord (daimyo) to report to. This was Oishi’s state since his lord had fallen into disgrace and had been forced to commit seppuku (ceremonial suicide). Determined to avenge the unfair treatment of his master, Oishi divorced his wife and entered into a life of debauchery to disguise his revengeful intentions. Eventually, Oishi and 46 other ronin had a rendezvous in Edo (Tokyo), killed their master’s opponent, and were eventually forced by the Shogun to commit ceremonial suicide. All are buried with their master at a Tokyo temple. (Their story, The 47 Ronin, has become a classic in Japanese literature and kabuki as well.)

Some 150 years later, the Ichi-riki again became the center of intrigue. In the mid-19th century, in the latter days of the Tokugawa Shoguns’ rule, some of the opponents of the Tokugawa government would gather at the Ichi-riki under the pretense of a few friends having an enjoyable evening at a geisha party. Their real goal, however, was the overthrow of the government. Their plotting, and that of others of like mind, came to fruition in 1868 when the last Shogun signed the papers at Nijo Castle dissolving the Shogun’s government and ostensibly returning the Emperor to power.

Today, the Ichi-riki plays host to Japanese power figures of the business world rather than the political world, but its attraction as one of the prime geisha houses in Kyoto remains. Hanami-koji-dori, the street on which the Ichi-riki is located, is one of the best preserved of the old Gion streets of ochaya and the traditional Pleasure Quarters of Kyoto. It is a delightful area architecturally as well as historically in which to saunter. Many of the geisha live along Hanami-kojidori to the south of the Ichi-riki and, in the evening, at about 7:30, the maiko and geisha begin their walk to work at the ochaya that have requested their services for the evening, a delightful sight with their beautiful kimono and extravagant coiffures.

A traditional ochaya (tea house), with slatted and curved bamboo barriers along its outer walls.

The narrow Pontocho pedestrian walkway.

PONTOCHO AREA The area on both sides of the Kamo River thus became the center of entertainment in Kyoto, particularly after legal authorization for geisha entertainment was granted by the Shogun. Today, restaurants as well as ochaya can be found not only in the Gion-Shimbashi area on the east side of the Kamo River but along Pontocho, a very narrow pedestrian street on the west side of the Kamo River. The Pontocho pleasure quarter, once the red light district of Kyoto, lies between Sanjo-dori and Shijo-dori and is a particularly intriguing section due to its highly and colorfully illuminated signs along this street of restaurants. (Prostitution was abolished by law in 1958, but the area has its modern “love hotels,” as the type has been so aptly named, where rooms can be rented by the hour).

The Pontocho area consists of two narrow streets: one (Pontocho) is a pedestrian walk-way rather than a normal street, a home to many expensive restaurants and bars, as well as that modern replacement for traditional geisha entertainment—hostess clubs. Pontocho is the street closest to and parallel to the Kamo River, and many of the restaurants in the old buildings along this stone-paved passageway overlook the river. Some of these establishments have yuka, wooden platforms on the river’s edge on which you can dine and enjoy the cool breezes of the river. At night the illuminated signs hanging from each restaurant or bar on Pontocho provide a colorful and striking visual enrichment for this pleasure quarter. Pontocho’s parallel companion street to the west is Kiyomachi-dori, with its more modern buildings along the Takasegawa, the Takase Canal. At night, the canal’s dark waters provide an interesting contrast to the colorful and sometimes garish illuminated signs of Kiyomachi-dori, which are reflected in the water.

Toward the Sanjo-dori (Third Street) end of Pontocho is the Pontocho Kaburenjo Theater. Each spring (April–May) and autumn (October–November) the theater offers the Kamogawa Odori (Kamo River Dances). This theatrical spectacle, which had its beginning in 1872, offers Kyo-mai (Kyoto or Capital Dances) performed in the traditional geisha manner. Demonstrations of the tea ceremony are also provided.

Returning to the eastern side of the Kamo River, there are three theaters that offer traditional entertainment. The Minami-za (South Theater) is the oldest theater in Kyoto and in Japan, having first opened its doors in the 17th century—although the present building dates from 1925 and was modernized in 1990. The home of traditional kabuki drama, the highlight of its season comes every December at its kaomise (Face Showing) performances. During this month, the most important stars of kabuki appear in scenes in which they can demonstrate their prowess as performers in this highly stylized and entertaining form of theater. (A stone monument on the west side of the Minami-za Theater marks the area where Izumo-no-Okuni first performed her nascent form of kabuki, this area once having been a part of the river before the river was walled as a protection against flooding and before the area of dry land was extended.)

About 165 feet (50 m) east of the Minamiza Theater on Shijo-dori is the Meyami Jizo Shrine with its front gate and red lanterns. It is believed that the Jizo of this shrine can cure eye diseases.

On a side street south of Shijo-dori, between Hanami-koji-dori and Higashi-oji-dori, are the Gion Kaburenjo Theater and Gion Corner. Each April and May the Miyako Odori (the Cherry Blossom Dance—Miyako is the old name for Kyoto, so this is really the “Capital Dance”) is presented by geisha and maiko. In the adjacent Gion Corner is the Yasaka Kaikan, a small hall that seats some 250 people and is attached to the Gion Kaburenjo. From March 1st through November 29th, a sample of traditional Japanese arts is performed twice each evening for visitors to the city. Created by the Kyoto Visitors’ Club in 1962, demonstrations of geisha dancing, ancient court music, bunraku (puppet theater), flower arrangement and tea ceremony are presented. An English language commentary is provided. In addition, geisha and maiko present performances of the Gion Odori at the Gion Kaikan north of Shijo-dori on Higashioji-dori, in October and December.

Window shopping along Teramachi Street.

Food stalls at the Nishiki Koji Market.

4 CENTRAL KYOTO

The streets spreading out from the Kamo River west to Karasuma-dori between Shijodori and Oike-dori embrace the main shopping center of Kyoto. Along Shijo-dori are a number of well-known Japanese department stores and many specialty shops, which are always thronged with browsers and would-be purchasers. Covered arcades on Kyogoku-dori and Shin Kyogoku-dori between Shijo-dori and Sanjo-dori and in Teramachi-dori between Shijo-dori and Oike-dori provide all-weather enticement to purchase anything from fine old prints to the most outrageous of cheap souvenirs.

Numerous movie houses and restaurants offer further entertainment to locals and tourists alike. The area is always crowded with tourist groups from the provinces as well as hundreds of students on school tours and local citizens.

TERAMACHI This area of Kyoto became a commercial center fairly late in the city’s history. At the time of Hideyoshi (late 1500s), a protective wall (Odoi) was built along the eastern edge of the city where Karawamachidori now runs. Teramachi (Temple District), the name of this area, is so-called since, as Toyotomi Hideyoshi rebuilt Kyoto as “his” capital after 1583, he had many of the temples that were favored by the people relocated to two areas, one along Teramachi-dori in the center of Kyoto and the other at Teranouchidori in the north-central part of the city. Those along Teramachi were primarily of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, while the ones along Teranouchi were of the Nichiren persuasion. Both time and fires have seen to the dispersal of many of relocated temples, but some still remain in this area.

Among the temples in the Teramachi area, perhaps the most famous is Honno-ji, because of its associations with Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga was Hideyoshi’s predecessor who ended virtually all the internecine wars of the 1500s. It was at Honno-ji that Nobunaga was trapped by a traitor and was forced to kill himself and his family, a deed which Hide-yoshi later avenged. Today, it is an association in name only, since the original Honno-ji was located a few streets to the south and west (south of Rokkaku-dori and east of Aura-nokoji-dori) before it burned down, and thus the present temple complex is from post-Nobunaga times.

Kyoto’s Kamo-gawa River in spring.

In the post-Meiji era (after 1868), Kawaramachi-dori was opened and became a street of shops between Oike-dori and Shijo-dori. In addition, Kyogoku-dori and Shin Kyogokudori were created after 1871 and became known as “Theater Street” by foreigners who came to Kyoto. It is still an entertainment area, although now small shops, many specializing in tourist souvenirs of an ephemeral nature, and restaurants rather than theaters predominate. It is a thriving and often crowded area with bright lights, and is popular with Kyoto residents as well as Japanese school tour groups.

One of the interesting byways of central Kyoto is Nishiki-koji-dori, which houses the Nishi Koji Market (Brocade Alley Market). It is located one street north of Shijo-dori, and runs from Shin Kyogoku-dori (a torii gate stands at the entry to the street before the small Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine) to Takakura-dori near the Daimaru department store.

Since the middle ages, there has been a public market in central Kyoto. Virtually the entire city was destroyed in the Onin Wars of 1467 to 1477. The market was re-established in the late 1500s, however, when Hideyoshi replanned the city. There are about 150 food dealers along this 500 feet (150 m) long stone-paved street. Most of the shops remain open until early evening, and the street presents a fascinating aspect of everyday life. (Most shops close on Wednesday; fish stores are closed on Sundays.)

THE TOKAIDO ROAD This walk is a loop, returning to the Yasaka Shrine, and it thus next leads east on Sanjo-dori (Third Street), which runs through the arcaded streets mentioned above (and is itself arcaded for a short while) as it heads eastward toward the Kamo River and the Sanjo bridge. The Sanjobashi Bridge over the Kamo River was originally built at the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1589, and after 1600 it marked the beginning of the Tokaido Road (To-kaido means “Eastern Highway”).

The Tokaido was a 320 mile (512 km) route with 53 relay stations between the Emperor’s capital in Kyoto and the Shogun’s headquarters in Edo (Tokyo). This link between Kyoto and Tokyo became a major commercial route between 1603 and 1868 as travel on Sanjo-dori headed east to the valley between Kyoto and Lake Biwa and the Tokaido Road. Its importance as a major highway diminished in the late 19th century with the coming of the railroad, and its eclipse was virtually completed when the new express-way to Kyoto entered the prefecture to the south of the city in the middle of the 20th century. The very first milestone of the route, from which all distances were measured, stood at the eastern end of the bridge, today a memento of a vanished era.

Later times have, of course, necessitated the replacement of Hideyoshi’s bridge by a structure that can carry the heavy traffic of a mechanized age. Only the giboshi, the bronze ornaments atop the posts of the railings, go back to the 16th century, all gifts of the leading daimyo of those days. Some of the stone pillars at each end of the bridge are original as well, the other stones having been used for the famous stepping stones in the garden pond of the Heian Shrine when it was created at the end of the 19th century.

At the southeast corner of the Sanjo Bridge, amidst the confusion of overhead electrical wires, the tracks of the Keihan rail line to Otsu, the terminal for many buses and the underground railway station, is a statue of a samurai bowing toward the northwest. The statue commemorates Takayama Masayuke (1747–93), also known as Takayama Hikokuro, who came to Kyoto when he was 18 and there began to delve into the history of the nation. Takayama was astonished to discover that the Shoguns had usurped the power of the Emperor to control the country. (He did not realize how powerless the Emperor had been through most of the centuries of the existence of the Imperial line.) He therefore traveled through the various provinces in an attempt to revive the prestige of the Imperial house. On his return to Kyoto, he fell upon his knees at the Sanjo Bridge to bow toward the Emperor in his palace to the northwest, to manifest the esteem due the Imperial house, as he is still bowing in this monument. Eventually, he offered himself as a symbolic sacrifice to the Imperial cause by committing hara-kiri for the sake of Imperial rule—one of the first overt acts of challenge to the Shogun’s supremacy. In his memory, a statue to this exemplar of fidelity to Imperial rule was erected at the corner of the Sanjo Bridge after the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

STREETS OF ANTIQUES Although antique and curio shops abound in various areas of Kyoto, several streets in the Gion/Shimbashi district are noted for a proliferation of such stores. Nawate-dori is one such street, a north–south street one street east of the Kamo River and running south from the transportation hub at Sanjo-dori. Parallel to it is Hanami-koji-dori to the east, and then two other streets which run from Nawate-dori to Higashi-oji-dori. These are Furomonzendori and Shinmonzen-dori, also a center for major antique shops. Furomonzen-dori is the second street from the transport square while Shinmonzen-dori is the next street south. The latter has the greatest concentration of such specialty shops.

In the shops of these streets the variety and splendor of Japanese arts and crafts can be obtained for a goodly price—since such antiquities are in great demand by connoisseurs of Japanese art. Among the treasures to be found here are screens (byobu), wood-block prints (ukiyo-e), chests (tansu), pearls, Imari porcelain ware, Kutani ware and other types of porcelain. Scrolls, wood carvings, netsuke, Noh masks, fans, obi, kimono, brocades, silk textiles, lacquerware, jade, silk embroideries, damascene-ware and Buddhist religious art are also for sale. The merchants of the area issue a brochure describing the stores of the district. This is available at hotels, at the Tourist Information Center downtown, as well as at member shops.

Moving further south on Nawate-dori, beyond Furomonzen-dori and Shinmonzen-dori, the fourth street on the left when coming from the Sanjo-dori area is Shirakawa-minami-dori, parallel to the narrow, canalized Shira kawa River. This section of the Shimbashi area, with its willow trees and old houses with their rolled-down blinds on the second floor, offers many of the other traditional ochaya that remain. As a center of the geisha quarters, it was loved by the poet Isamu Yoshii (1886– 1960), and one of his poems has been inscribed on a stone in this area:

No matter what they say,

I love Gion.

Even in my sleep

The sound of water

Flows beneath my pillow.

On November 8 at 11 a.m., geisha and maiko perform a tea ceremony at the stone monument that records Isamu Yoshii’s affection for Gion and its traditional delights— delights the geisha continue to maintain.

Continuing south to Shijo-dori, a turn to the left leads back to the Yasaka Shrine at Higashi-oji-dori where a bus or a taxi can be obtained at the conclusion of this walk.

GETTING THERE

This is a loop walk. The sites on the tour are all in central Kyoto or within easy walking distance from it. The tour starts and ends at Yasaka Shrine, which is situated at the intersection of Shijo-dori and Higashi-oji-dori. It can be reached by walking or by bus 206 or 207 to the Gion bus stop. The Gion area is pleasant to visit at any time, particularly during the cherry blossom season in April or at the time of the Gion Festival in July.