is a district on the western outskirts of

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 ci ...

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 ...

. It also refers to the mountain across the

Ōi River The is a river in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Geography The Ōi River flows from the Akaishi Mountains, the branch of the Japanese Southern Alps which form the border between Shizuoka, Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures. These mountains, with p ...

, which forms a backdrop to the district. Arashiyama is a nationally designated

Historic Site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

and Place of Scenic Beauty.

Notable tourist sites

* Arashiyama Bamboo Grove *The

Iwatayama Monkey Park Iwatayama Monkey Park (Japanese: 嵐山モンキーパーク, ''Arashiyama Monkī Pāku'') is a commercial park located in Arashiyama in Kyoto, Japan. The park is on Mt Arashiyama, on the opposite side of the Ōi River as the train station. It is ...

on the slopes of Arashiyama. Over 170 monkeys live at the park. While the monkeys are wild, they have become accustomed to humans. The park is on a small mountain not far from the Saga-Arashiyama rail station. Visitors can approach and photograph the monkeys. At the summit is a fenced enclosure where visitors can feed the monkeys. *The "Moon Crossing Bridge" (渡月橋, Togetsukyō), notable for its views of

cherry blossom A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

s and autumn colors on the slopes of Arashiyama. *The tombstone of the Heike courtesan Kogo of Sagano. *

Tenryū-ji , formally known as , is the head temple of the Tenryū-ji branch of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, located in Susukinobaba-chō, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, Japan. The temple was founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1339, primarily to venerate Gautama Buddh ...

, the main temple of one of the 15 branches of the

Rinzai The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan E ...

school, one of the two main sects of

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

in Japan. *The hamlet of Kiyotaki, a small scenic village at the base of Mt. Atago, the home to a notable Shinto shrine. *

Matsunoo-taisha , formerly , is a Shinto shrine located at the far western end of Shijō Street, approximately 1.3 kilometers south of the Arashiyama district of Kyoto. It is home to a spring at the base of the mountain, Arashiyama, that is believed to be blesse ...

, a shrine half a mile south of the area, is home to a blessed spring. It is one of the oldest shrines in the Kyoto area, founded in 700. The alleged restorative properties of the spring bring many local ''

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

'' and ''

miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and ''kōji'' (the fungus ''Aspergillus oryzae'') and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. It is used for sauces and spread ...

'' companies for prayers that their product will be blessed. *Kameyama koen has a stone commemorating

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...

's visit to Arashiyama. He was moved by the cherry blossoms and mountain greenery. The four poems he wrote about his visit are engraved on a stone monument: "Arashiyama in the Rain." *

Ōkōchi Sansō is the former home and garden of the Japanese ''jidaigeki'' (period film) actor Denjirō Ōkōchi in Arashiyama, Kyoto. The villa is open to the public for an admission fee and is known for its gardens and views of the Kyoto area. Several of the b ...

, the Japanese-style home and gardens of the film actor

Denjirō Ōkōchi was a Japanese film actor best known for starring roles in jidaigeki directed by leading Japanese filmmakers. Early life and family Ōkōchi was born Masuo Ōbe on February 5, 1898, in Ōkōchi, Iwaya (present-day Ōkōchi, Buzen), Fukuoka Pre ...

. *Cherry trees bloom in spring and leaves turn red in autumn. *The Sagano bamboo forest is a famous attraction for tourists, which is present near the

temple.

Transport

Arashiyama is accessible by the

Keifuku Electric Railroad is a railroad company based in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (but with offices in Fukui Prefecture) in operation since March 2, 1942. It is a parent company of Keifuku Bus and Kyoto Bus, and an affiliated company of Keihan Electric Railway, which ow ...

from central Kyoto or by the Hankyū Arashiyama Line from Katsura, with connections from

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

and

Karasuma station. Additionally, the JR

Saga-Arashiyama Station , known as Saga Station until 1994, is a railway station on the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) Sanin Main Line (Sagano Line) in Ukyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The Sagano Scenic Railway also starts here. Saga-Arashiyama Station is also one of th ...

is located in the district's suburbs.

Togetsukyō

Togetsukyō (渡月橋) is a bridge across the river. It is the subject of one of the ''

Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces ''Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces'' (in Japanese 六十余州名所図会 ''Rokujūyoshū Meisho Zue'') is a series of ukiyo-e prints by the Japanese artist Hiroshige (1797–1858). The series consists of a print of a famous view from each ...

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

prints. The Japanese used mostly concrete in 1934 to rebuild the Togetsukyo Bridge, unlike the original destroyed wooden version of the bridge from 836. The river has three different names that denote its upper, middle, and lower stretches. It is called the in the upper course (not to be confused with the homophonously named , further to the east in

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

), the in the middle course, and the in the lower course.

References

External links

*
Pictures of Kyoto, Arashiyama
(including Sagano, Katsura river, Takebayashi Street) (Arashiyama Park)
(Togetsukyō)
(JR Station)
(Randen Station)
(Hankyū Station) Geography of Kyoto Places of Scenic Beauty Historic Sites of Japan Tourist attractions in Kyoto {{Kyoto-geo-stub