is a district in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, known for its and , and is home to many of the city's and traditional tea houses. Like Gion, Ponto-chō is famous for the preservation of forms of traditional

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and entertainment.

Etymology

The name "Ponto" is believed to come from the Portuguese word (bridge), and is written in

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

used for their sound only (''

ateji In modern Japanese, principally refers to kanji used to phonetically represent native or borrowed words with less regard to the underlying meaning of the characters. This is similar to in Old Japanese. Conversely, also refers to kanji used s ...

''). The Japanese word means town, block or street.

District

Ponto-chō as a district is for the most part constructed around a long, narrow alleyway, running from Shijō-dōri to Sanjō-dōri, one block west of the

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 s ...

. This location is also known as the traditional location for the beginning of

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

as an art form, and a statue of kabuki's founder,

Izumo no Okuni was a Japan, Japanese entertainer and miko, shrine maiden who is believed to have invented the theatrical art form of kabuki. She is thought to have begun performing her new art style of () theatre in the dry stream bed, riverbed of the Kamo ...

, stands on the opposite side of the river. The district's crest is a stylized water

plover Plovers ( , ) are members of a widely distributed group of wader, wading birds of subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name. Species lis ...

, or .

Cultural features

''Geiko'' and have existed in Ponto-chō since at least the 16th century, as have

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

and other forms of entertainment. Today, the area, lit by traditional lanterns at night, contains a mix of exclusive restaurants — often featuring outdoor riverside dining on wooden patios — geisha houses and tea houses, bars, and cheap eateries. The area is also home to the Ponto-chō Kaburenjō Theatre at the Sanjō-dōri end of the street. This theatre functions as a practice hall for geisha and , and has functioned as the location for the annual Kamogawa Odori — a combination performance of traditional dance, kabuki-like theatre, singing and the playing of traditional instruments — since the 1870s. In the 1970s, American anthropologist Liza Dalby visited Kyoto for a year as part of her doctoral studies into the institution of geisha in modern Japanese society, eventually unofficially becoming a geisha as part of her research. Dalby later wrote a well-received book, ''Geisha'', about the experience.

References

External links

Ponto-cho Noren-kai
* (Pontochō Kaburenjō Theater) Geography of Kyoto {{Kyoto-geo-stub

Etymology

District

Cultural features

See also

References

External links