|
Shirakawa River
The is a river in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The river originates in the foothills of Mount Hiei on the outskirts of Kyoto, through the Geisha district of Gion and eventually ends up in the Kamo River. Its name, which means "white river" in Japanese, probably refers to the white coloured sand and gravel that it carries from the hills east of Kyoto. Many ochaya (geisha houses) and restaurants line the banks of the Shirakawa as it passes through the geisha district of Gion, in Kyoto. Shirakawa-suna Most Japanese rock gardens in Kyoto have historically used gravel as one of their design elements. Sourced from the upper reaches of the Shirakawa River it is known as ''Shirakawa-suna'', (白川砂利, "Shirakawa-sand") despite the individual pieces being much bigger than the grains of what is regarded as normal ''suna'' (sand). The individual pieces vary from 2 mm to up to even 30 to 50 mm in size. This type of muted black-speckled granite which is known for its rather muted colour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ochaya
In Japan, an is an establishment where patrons are entertained by geisha. A now-archaic term that arose in the Edo period, in the modern day refers exclusively to the establishments within Kyoto in which geisha work and entertain their clients, though the term is sometimes used to describe all establishments used by geisha to entertain guests, irrespective of location. Equivalent establishments in locations outside of Kyoto are known as , meaning "restaurant", referring to a traditional Japanese-style restaurant where geisha may entertain. Terminology Though the term literally means "tea house", the term follows the naming conventions of buildings or rooms used for Japanese tea ceremony, known as ; as such, though tea is served at as an ordinary beverage, it is not, unlike teahouses and tearooms found throughout the world, its sole purpose. When used as part of a name, the honorific prefix is not used in Japanese, and the plain is used as a suffix, as in "Ichiriki Chaya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gion
is a district of Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan, originating as an entertainment district in the Sengoku period, in front of Yasaka Shrine (Gion Shrine). The district was built to accommodate the needs of travellers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. Gion is the Japanese translation (via Chinese ''Qiyuan'') of the Buddhist term Jetavana. The geisha in Kyoto do not refer to themselves as geisha, instead using the local term . While the term geisha means "artist" or "person of the arts", the more direct term means essentially "a woman of art". Divisions Gion houses two , or geisha districts: and . The two were originally the same district, but split many years ago. Gion Kobu is larger, occupying most of the district including the famous street Hanamikoji, while Gion Higashi is smaller and occupies the northeast corner, centered on its rehearsal hall. Despite the considerable d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamo River
The is located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The riverbanks are popular walking spots for residents and tourists. In summer, restaurants open balconies looking out to the river. There are walkways running alongside the river, and some stepping stones that cross the river. The water level of the river is usually relatively low; less than one meter in most places. During the rainy season, however, the walkways sometimes flood in their lower stretches. Geography The Kamo River has its source in the mountains in the area of Mount Sajikigatake, around the boundary of Kumogahata village and Keihoku village in the northern ward of Kyoto. Flowing into the Kyoto Basin from the city area called Kamigamo in the same northern ward of the city, from there it bends south-east and, around the spot known as Demachi in the Kamigyō (or "Upper Kyoto" ward), joins with the Takano River which flows down from the northeastern direction, and there changes direction to due south through Kyoto' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yodo River
The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture to the north. The Yodo River, usually called the Seta River in Shiga Prefecture, begins at the southern outlet of the lake in Ōtsu. There is a dam there to regulate the lake level. Further downstream, the Seta flows into Kyoto Prefecture and its name changes to the Uji River. It then merges with two other rivers, the Katsura River and the Kizu River in Kyoto Prefecture. The Katsura has its headwaters in the mountains of Kyoto Prefecture, while the Kizu comes from Mie Prefecture. From the three-river confluence, the river is called the Yodo River, which flows south, through Osaka, and on into Osaka Bay. In Osaka, part of the river has been diverted into an artificial channel; the old course in the heart of Osaka is called the Kyū-Yodo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city had a population of 1.46 million. The city is the cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Kyoto, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 3.8 million people. Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The original city, named Heian-kyō, was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an/Luoyang. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and the Boshin War, such as the Ōnin War, the Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ochaya
In Japan, an is an establishment where patrons are entertained by geisha. A now-archaic term that arose in the Edo period, in the modern day refers exclusively to the establishments within Kyoto in which geisha work and entertain their clients, though the term is sometimes used to describe all establishments used by geisha to entertain guests, irrespective of location. Equivalent establishments in locations outside of Kyoto are known as , meaning "restaurant", referring to a traditional Japanese-style restaurant where geisha may entertain. Terminology Though the term literally means "tea house", the term follows the naming conventions of buildings or rooms used for Japanese tea ceremony, known as ; as such, though tea is served at as an ordinary beverage, it is not, unlike teahouses and tearooms found throughout the world, its sole purpose. When used as part of a name, the honorific prefix is not used in Japanese, and the plain is used as a suffix, as in "Ichiriki Chaya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Rock Garden
The or Japanese rock garden, often called a zen garden, is a distinctive style of Japanese garden. It creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and uses gravel or sand that is raked to represent ripples in water. Zen gardens are commonly found at temples or monasteries. A zen garden is usually relatively small, surrounded by a wall or buildings, and is usually meant to be seen while seated from a single viewpoint outside the garden, such as the porch of the ''hojo'', the residence of the chief monk of the temple or monastery. Many, with gravel rather than grass, are only stepped into for maintenance. Classical zen gardens were created at temples of Zen Buddhism in Kyoto during the Muromachi period. They were intended to imitate the essence of nature, not its actual appearance, and to serve as an aid for meditation. History Early Japanese rock gardens Stone gardens existed in Japan at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryōan-ji
Ryōan-ji ( ja, 竜安寺, label=Shinjitai, ja, 龍安寺, label=Kyūjitai, ''The Temple of the Dragon at Peace'') is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan. It belongs to the Myōshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism. The Ryōan-ji garden is considered one of the finest surviving examples of ''kare-sansui'' ("dry landscape"), a refined type of Japanese Zen temple garden design generally featuring distinctive larger rock formations arranged amidst a sweep of smooth pebbles (small, carefully selected polished river rocks) raked into linear patterns that facilitate meditation. The temple and its gardens are listed as one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History The site of the temple was an estate of the Fujiwara clan in the 11th century. The first temple, the ''Daiju-in'', and the still existing large pond were built in that century by Fujiwara Saneyoshi. In 1450, Hosokawa Katsumoto, another powerful warlord, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daitoku-ji
is a Buddhist temple, one of fourteen autonomous branches of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. It is located in Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The "mountain name" ('' sangō'') by which it is known is . The Daitoku-ji temple complex today covers more than . History Daitoku-ji originated as a small monastery founded in 1315 or 1319 by the monk , who is known by the title ''Daitō Kokushi'' ("National Teacher of the Great Lamp") given by Emperor Go-Daigo. In 1325, the monastery was converted into a supplication hall for the imperial court at the request of the retired Emperor Hanazono. The dedication ceremony for the imperial supplication hall, with its newly added dharma hall and abbot's living quarters, was held in 1326, and this is generally recognized as the true founding of the temple.Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, entry "Daitokuji." Like many other temples in Kyoto during that time, the temple's buildings were destroyed by fire. In 1474, which was when Kyoto was the scene of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rivers Of Kyoto Prefecture
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to using names such as creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the generic term river as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and northeast England, and "beck" in northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always: the language is vague. Rivers are part of the water cycle. Water generally collects in a river from precipitation through a drainage basin from surface runoff and other sources such as groundwater recharge, springs, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
