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Okazaki, Teramachi Street, Shuzan, Shimabara

Hiroshima Prefecture, in the Setouchi region, is especially famous for its seaside Itsukushima Shrine.

This post covers the following topics: two Japan travel updates; a look at Kyoto's "gentrified" Okazaki district; the history and wonders of Kyoto's Teramachi Street; the rural villages & natural beauty of Shuzan village; and Shimabara, Kyoto's almost forgotten Edo-period pleasure quarter.

First, a winter travel update for the Mediterranean attractions in Japan’s Setouchi region, which includes the cities of Hiroshima, Iwakuni, Takamatsu, and Matsuyama. The most famous travel destinations in the Setouchi region also include Benesse Art Island, Kurashiki. Currently, 2024, the Setouchi region is promoting winter sun and health with more than 20 themed (and "curated") winter itineraries. The region offers everything from forest bathing and qi meditation to salt spas & olive orchards. Some of the best experiences in Setouchi include:

Chichibugahama Beach and its "The Mirror of the Heavens" tide pool reflections,

Mt. Shiude and its serene 352-meter peak offers killer panoramic views over the Setouchi coastal landscape,

Mitoyotsuru Toji Sake Brewery (est. 1877) guesthouse bath & sauna rejuvenation,

Matsuyama's 3,000-year-old hot spring culture and the Dogo Onsen Honkan fed by 18 naturally flowing hot springs,

Cycling on the Shimanami Kaido, a 4-8 hour cycling route, 70 km or 44 miles, connecting Onomichi (Hiroshima Prefecture) to Imabari (Ehime Prefecture).

And now a quick look at the 5-star hotel scene in Japan, especially Kyoto. A search on Google Maps reveals about 30 5-star properties in Kyoto. Tokyo has about 40. Compared to London or New York the Japanese numbers are pretty impressive. London and NYC have long been the cities with the most luxury hotels. London has 75 properties and counting. NYC (and Dubai) has 60; Paris 56; Miami 46; LA 40; Rome 32. So, Kyoto is almost Paris! My favorite 5-stars in Japan are the Japanese brands for the experience and the understated elegance: the Okura group, Hoshino resorts, Celestine hotels (classed as 4 star but feels like 5!), Nikko hotels.

The rest of this blog post is devoted to:

Okazaki: Heian Shrine, green space, cafes

Autumn in Japan is closely identified with culture, and no area can compare with the cultural attractions of Okazaki. This area of Kyoto, loosely defined, stretches south of Imadegawa to Sanjo and east of Higashioji to the eastern mountains. However, the heart of the area is within a 500 meters or yards of Heian Shrine in any direction. Okazaki is closely identified with culture because of the high concentration of museums in the area. The area also boasts some of Kyoto's finest turn-of-the century Western style buildings as well as the magnificent Kyoto Museum of Modern Art. With such a high concentration of interesting sights and attractions, nearly every tourist Japanese or non-Japanese will find themselves in Okazaki at one time or another on their stay in Kyoto. It would not be an exaggeration, to say that Okazaki has just about everything you could hope for in Kyoto - important shrines and temples, gardens, the Kyoto Zoo, great views and excellent walking tours. Kyoto's International Community Center is also in Okazaki.

The core Heian Shrine area of Okazaki has continued to gentrify and offer more to tourists. The main roads around the shrine are now mostly car-free; there are excellent cafes and dining options all around the shrine; and the hidden zones of Mount Yoshida to the north are receiving more and more tourists looking for off the beaten track amazings. Okazaki has all this and more! Learn more!

Okazaki Highlights:

Heian Shrine: In a sense the symbol of the entire Okazaki area, Heian Shrine is one of Kyoto's most august and impressive buildings. The avenue leading to the shrine which passes under the giant orange shrine gate is one of the most famous in all of Japan. The shrine's design, built in commemoration of Kyoto 1100th anniversary is strongly reminiscent of the Chinese Tang dynasty buildings which were so popular in the early Heian period. Heian Shrine, in fact, is a 5/8 scale model (based on historical records) of the first imperial palace built in Kyoto in 794. The now mature 100-year-old Japanese gardens, which stretch out along serene waterways behind the main shrine building boasts an exquisite Chinese island pavilion connected to the garden by a covered bridge. For its size, style and abundant greenery, Heian Shrine is one of the most popular monuments in central Kyoto.

Okazaki Museums: Okazaki is full of superb museums, and so a day spent in Okazaki, rain or shine is never wasted. With a 20 minute walk of Heian Shrine the visitor will find the Sen-Oku Hakko Kan/Sumitomo Collection, the Nomura Museum, the Kyoto Museum of Modern Art , the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, the Sosui Kan (a museum dedicated to the canal joining Kyoto with Otsu), and the art exhibition galleries of the Kyoto International Community Center.

Kyoto Zoo and Surrounding Area: Another highlight of the Okazaki area is the Kyoto Zoo and the walk along the canal behind the Zoo leading to a large pond, the Kyoto International Community Center, and on towards Nanzen-ji Temple. In this area you can see people fishing, skate boarding, and simply relax along the generous banks of the canal.

Murin-an and Nanzen-ji's Tenjuan Gardens: Murin-an was built as a private villa in the early 1890s by Aritomo Yamagata, a veteran statesman of the Meiji and Taisho periods. Remarkably well preserved, the property boasts a 3-tier waterfall, pond, western-style lawn, tea house, and a two-story Western-style building adorned with 17th century paintings by Kano. Murin-an is located right in the heart of Okazaki directly south the Zoo. Open daily 9 am - 4:30 pm. Murin-an's tea house and main house can be rented for special occasions (Tel: 222-4102 for details). Also in the immediate area is Nazenji's Tenjuan Temple, established in 1336. The present building date from 1602. Of interest are the temple's 14th century gardens, and its 32 exceptional, early 17th century sliding door paintings.

Shinnyodo Shrine and Kurodani Temple: Though this part of Kyoto is about as central as you can possibly get, it is slightly off the beaten track and thus often passed by. But, for many long time foreign residents the area around Shinnyodo and Kurodani is a favorite place to walk and experience the truly old world of Kyoto residential life. Of particular interest is the area directly south of Shinnyodo Shrine's bucolic inner sanctum, which wends through an area of old Buddhist graveyards to a five story pagoda above Kurodani Temple from which some of the best views in Kyoto can be had. A real treat at sunset! From this lookout steps lead down (see photo) to the main Kurodani compound where each evening between 6 and 7 pm the chanting of nearly 50 monks can be heard clearly through the paper paneled doors of a small building in the main square. In the same area the visitor will also find a few exquisite Buddha statues both in stone and bronze, old crumbling earthen walls, and then too a wealth of tiny beautiful details.

Teramachi Street from temples to tourists

Teramachi (or Temple Town) Street, one of Kyoto’s most popular shopping streets for the past 400 years, was originally called Higashi Kyogoku-oji. Said to be 32-meters wide, it was the most eastern avenue in the original design of Heian period Kyoto (794-1185). East of it lay the river and then the wild and lawless forests that led up to the valley’s eastern ridge. For a long time the street, which ran next to the Kamogawa River, was a location favored by aristocrats for their villas.

For the first 200 years, a time of great prosperity, cultural expansion and peace, Heian-kyo, as Kyoto was then called, was a paradise. However, from middle of the eleventh century, the capital entered a long period of decline. The 13th and 14th centuries were unusually unkind to Kyoto in terms of natural disasters. In the 13th century alone, huge sections of the city were destroyed by earthquakes, floods, and fires on nearly 20 occasions. Naturally, the flooding of the Kamogawa River, just east of Higashi Kyogoku-oji, was a huge problem. At times the city streets were home to bands of robbers, who robbed and pillaged and generally terrified the citizens so much that they formed crafts guilds and special neighborhoods to protect themselves.

As a result of the eleven-year-long Onin War (1467-1477), fought mostly in Kyoto, nearly all of the city’s major central temples and villas were destroyed. Higashi Kyogoku-oji was renamed Teramachi in 1590, when the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered about 80 of Kyoto's most popular “downtown” temples to relocate along the east side of the avenue. By putting them all together, they were easier to watch and control. And since the east side of the city was where most attacks came from, the temples would be attacked first. Almost all of these temples continue to exist today, giving the street a special atmosphere. At the same time, many of the guilds that were centered in the downtown area—most of which did much of their business with the temples— moved to Teramachi Street. The presence of these guilds is still quite obvious today.

In the peaceful Edo period (1600-1867), Teramachi Street, with its many temples and related shops, became a flourishing business center. In particular, merchants who handled books, Buddhist rosaries, brushes and medicines, and paper craftsmen and shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese guitar) set up their homes and businesses along the street.

Kyoto’s bustling Sanjo Teramachi intersection is said to be the true end of the highly important Tokaido Highway, which linked the political capital of Edo (Tokyo) with the imperial capital, Kyoto, via a chain of 53 post towns. And this is the reason Teramachi is such a famous street throughout Japan.

Today, nearly 400 years later, Teramachi is as busy and bustling as ever. The heart of Teramachi is the 2-kilometer-long covered shopping arcade which is lined with some of the city’s oldest and most interesting shops. In 1990, the street’s shop association had a compass design, made of pavement bricks, placed in the street. The compass was chosen as symbol to guide visitors into an ever changing world of crafts and arts, amusement, and fashion. Here, the visitor can find everything from the old traditional shops and restaurants to the latest fashion boutiques and souvenir shops.

Shuzan, a world of old farmhouses & rural beauty

Are you ready for a two-hour bus ride to the middle of nowhere? Prepared to risk getting mildly carsick in an effort to reach a secluded mountaintop temple and its 600 year-old cherry tree? If the answer is yes, then pack a camera, pick up a good book on Japan's stormy imperial past, and set off for Shuzan, a wondrous area just north of Kyoto.

Departing from Kyoto Station, the Shuzan-bound JR bus passes Myoshin-ji Temple as it follows the ancient Shuzan Kaido highway (now Route 162) on its way northwest to the Japan Sea. Once outside the city center, the beautiful hills and valleys of Kitayama (Northern Mountains) introduce you to the unique charm of the Japanese cryptomeria, or sugi. Meticulously trimmed of all lower branches, some of these trees are bound with wire corsets for two years to form treasured ridges and grooves in their trunks. Later these will be used to make the main pillars in the sacred alcoves of traditional Japanese homes.

Approaching Shuzan, the landscape flattens to reveal the thatched roofs of farmhouses. Open space, fresh air, and the clean water of the Kami-katsura River make Shuzan the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of Kyoto. Changing buses in Shuzan for the 20-minute ride to the aforementioned temple, you will soon realize why many artists, craftspeople, and wealthy Kyotoites have decided to settle down in this pastoral setting.

Alighting from the bus, you will see Joshoko-ji, Ever-Bright Imperial Temple, looking down at you from its mountaintop. This temple's imperial connections date to 1362 when Emperor Kogon, the first sovereign of the Northern Court, came here to become a monk and to escape the schism engulfing the imperial household. His two years at the temple were free from the hostilities that had dominated his short reign (1331-1333). After he died, the monks buried his remains on the slopes behind the temple. In 1579, warlord Akechi Mitsuhide, in a bid to build a castle at Shuzan, set fire to Joshoko-ji. The head monk managed to rescue the personal effects of the former emperor, which, along with a Buddhist bible from the Muromachi era, are still preserved at the temple.

Entering the Hojo (Priests' Quarters), one is greeted by beautiful fusuma doors decorated with images of the wild deer, monkeys, and geese that inhabit the surrounding hills. Flanked by two views of the temple's serene garden and facing a grand table decorated with the golden imperial chrysanthemum, stands the elevated chair from which the head monk delivers his sermons.

The gardens, designed by Emperor Kogon, are home to several distinguished cherry trees. One, in the south part of the garden is named Miguruma-gaeshi, literally, "Returning Carriage". The story goes that Emperor Go-Mizuno was so taken with the beauty of this tree that, upon departing the temple, he insisted that the royal convoy return for one last look at the sublime blossoms. In the main garden is the 600 year-old Kokonoe-zakura, whose name denotes that it was planted by nobles. In 1938, the tree was officially designated a protected natural monument. To its left is the Sakon no Sakura, or Sakura of the Left.

A covered walkway follows the garden, which blends imperceptibly into the natural landscape of its mountain backdrop, an example of a Japanese gardening conceit known as shakkei, or borrowed scenery.

At the end of the covered wooden walkway lies the Hondo, the temple's main structure. With its chipped and slightly warped black floor tiles, this room provides a more somber vantage point from which to view the blossoms. Arranged in two rows, sixteen rakan statues look down at the visitors from their ceiling perch. (In Buddhist thought, rakan, or ﾒworthy ones," were individuals who devoted themselves to religious practice, achieving an extraordinary level of insight.) Connected to the Hondo is small chamber housing a swarthy statue of Emperor Kogon in meditation.

If your stomach is calling you back to the more mundane world, then catch the 1:14 pm bus to Shuzan and head to Yoshikawaﾕs for lunch. Here, surrounded by over a dozen stuffed wild animals and a display of old-fashioned straw snow gear, you can sit at a sunken hearth and enjoy noodles: hot nabe-yaki udon for ｴ600, or a bowl of thick inaka (country style) soba for Yen 850.

Country cooking, cherry blossoms, tales of the past--a visit to Shuzan and Joshoko-ji reminds one that serenity indeed exists by providing an escape back to a time when man and nature sustained each other.

Getting to Joshoko-ji: A Shuzan [kanji] bound JR bus leaves JR Kyoto Station at 10 am, daily, arriving in Shuzan at 11:19. At Shuzan change to a bus marked Yamaguni Goryo-mae [kanji]. It leaves at 11:40 am, arriving at its (and your) destination at 11:53 am.

Getting back: Take a 1:14 pm bus from "Yamaguni Goryo-mae to Shuzan. From Shuzan buses return to Kyoto at 2:20, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, and 5:20 pm. Note: During cherry viewing season, buses get crowded. Be sure to get there early if you want to guarantee yourself a seat for the ride home.

Kyoto's almost forgotten Shimabara pleasure quarter

Set in a sea of rice fields, the pleasure quarters of Shimabara were once surrounded by a moat and wall. Women entered the west or east gates (often never to re-emerge, remaining within as virtual captives to provide their guests with a variety of pleasures). In Japan, there were four such districts licensed under the watchful eye of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Unlike its counterparts in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagasaki, however, Shimabara boasted a special class of women trained in all the traditional arts: known as tayu, their beauty and refinement were legendary, and were even said to surpass those of the geisha. Tayu were accorded fifth rank status in the court's five-tiered hierarchy.

After leaving JR Tambaguchi Station, a short walk NW of Kyoto Station, the first thing you will see on your left is the towering outline of the giant gingko tree, which marks the location of tiny Sumiyoshi Shrine. This is the entry to what is left of the Shimabara entertainment district. The hey day of the quarter was in the Edo period; prostitution was made officially illegal in 1958. Two of the area's tea houses, now preserved as Cultural Assets, continue to operate as traditional houses of entertainment. Especially fine are the elegantly designed Sumiya and the Wachigaiya.

After the shrine turn right and walk down to the Sumiya; on the way you will notice how quickly this neighborhood has changed as brand-new houses, most of them pretty ugly, compete with the distinctly more natural feeling of Japan’s traditional architecture. A tour of the Sumiya, a functioning tea-house until WWII, will leave no doubt in your mind regarding the genius of the Japanese for design, architecture, and carpentry—the Sumiya is a tour-de-force must-see! Open 10:00-16:00; closed Mon.

The Sumiya was owned and managed by the Nakagawa family for 13 generations starting in 1641. It was expanded to its present scale in 1787. It is often seen only as an example of a former decadent amusement center, but this view is short-sighted. It was also a place where the leading figures of the day in the arts, literature and politics gathered. Frequented also by the ordinary man, the Sumiya surprises the visitor with its touches of originality. This vigorous and overwhelming creativity can still be felt today, 300 years later. The building has three main parts: the lattice-work entry area, the huge open-air kitchen, and the seemingly endless interior rooms (upstairs and down). Known as an ageya (an elegant restaurant) the Sumiya was popular for banquets and dinner parties at which guests were entertained (tea ceremony, dance, and song) by geisha and taiyu (premiere geisha). When inside note the sword rack at the entrance to the back interior, also look for the old trunk of the pine in the fine back garden and note the width of the planks (nearly one meter wide) used on the exterior walkway. And everywhere you look, see the masterful way the Japanese work with wood.