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Arashiyama Images 14 images Created 27 Nov 2010

Arashiyama is popular with Japanese visitors. Tenryuji Temple is one of Japan's most famous gardens with Sogenchi Pond Garden - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple also has a well known vegetarian restaurant serving "Shojin Ryori" temple cuisine. Cruises along the Hozu River, the Bamboo Forest behind Tenryuji and Matsuo Shrine are some of the other hot spots in this area
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  • Arashiyama Station’s “Kimono Forest” is a colorful aspect of the station’s facelift includes designer Yasumichi Morita creations of kimono fabric patterns arranged on cylindrical columns.  The patterns have been placed inside 600 illuminated poles along pathways of the station, creating a “kimono forest”.
    kimono-forest-7.jpg
  • The Hozu River is a favorite spot in Kyoto for river boat rides and viewing the autumn foliage.  The Katsura River is a continuation of the Hozu River on the south side of the Togetsukyo bridge and a favorite riverside stroll in Ararashiyama section of Kyoto.
    hozu-river-6.jpg
  • Rakan statues represent the 500 disciples of Buddha. Although many Buddhist sculptures are carved to represent exquisite beauty or terrifying ferociousness, rakan almost always seem to be carved in the spirit of humour and good fun
    tenryuji-rakan-1.jpg
  • Tenryuji Sogenchi Pond Garden - Tenryuji Garden has been ranked first among Kyoto's "Five Great Zen Temples". Tenryuji was established in 1339, and like many other temples burnt down several times over its history. Muso Soseki, the temple's founding abbot and famous garden designer, created Tenryuji's landscape garden which, unlike the temple buildings, survived the many fires and is considered one of the oldest of its kind, that is "borrowed landscape" garden, taking in the background scenery of the hills of  Arashiyama as part of the garden's composition. Sogenchi pond and Ishigumi rock clusters in the garden are this pond garden's essential ingredients.
    tenryuji-9.jpg
  • Sake Barrels at Matsunoo Grand Shrine also known as Matsuo Grand Shrine is located at the west end of Kyoto   beyond Matsuo Bridge. This shrine is the oldest shrine in Kyoto, and the divinity worshipped here is the god of brewing sake. Throughout the year, more than a thousand people who are engaged in brewing sake visit Matsunoo Grand Shrine to pay their respects and donate giant casks of sake to the shrine.  Matsuo Shrine is also famous for its modern Japanese gardens.
    sake-barrels-2.jpg
  • Tsukubai Water Basin with Flower - Water is considered purifying in Japan, hence the emphasis on cleanliness in everyday life.  Water fountains such as these, known as tsukubai, are also beneficial to hear the trickling of falling water to soothe the nerves as well.  A tsukubai is a small basin provided at Japanese Buddhist temples for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands and rinsing of the mouth. This type of ritual cleansing is also the custom for guests attending a tea ceremony.  Tsukubai are usually made of stone, and are often provided with a small scoop, laid across the top, ready for use.
    tsukubai-16.jpg
  • Ikebana "living flowers" is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as kado the "way of flowers".  It is a popular pastime in Japan particularly with women of a certain age.
    ikebana-display-2.jpg
  • Boat tours down the Hozu River from Kameoka to Arashiyama take roughly two hours, leading through a picturesque canyon and over some rapids. The boats seat about twenty people and are powered by boatmen with poles and oars.  Other types of boats cruise at more leisurely pace with one oarsman and skip the rapids.
    hozu-river-5.jpg
  • Chikurin-no-Michi or the Path of Bamboo is long path of bamboo trees in Arashiyama behind Tenryuji Temple. The scene appears frequently on Japanese TV dramas and in Japanese movies,particularly those set in Kyoto.
    kyoto-bamboo-forest-6.jpg
  • Monks chanting at Daikakuji - an Esoteric Buddhism temple in Saga, Kyoto that was once the villa of Emperor Saga. Monks encircle the pond and temple precincts, chanting at each respective stage.  The temple inherited the beliefs of the monk Kukai also known as Kobo-Daishi.  Also, a school of ikebana, the Saga Goryu, maintains its headquarters in the temple.
    daikakuji-3.jpg
  • Couple admiring the view from tatami room at Tenryu-ji Temple's Sogenchi Pond Garden. Tenryuji is more formally known as Tenryu Shiseizen-ji and is the head temple of the Tenryu branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. Its first chief priest was Muso Soseki the famous Zen garden designer who created this magnificent garden which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
    tenryuji-12.jpg
  • Rickshaws still ply the streets of Arashiyama in the rural part of Kyoto. Nowadays the rickshaw pullers tend to be university students, working at a part-time job rather than this being a blue-collar low level job.  The bamboo grove at Arashiyama, where this rickshaw and passengers is located,  is one of Kyoto's best retreats from the urban scene.
    japanese-rickshaw-5.jpg
  • Shojin Ryori Temple Cuisine - Zen Temple food or "Shojin Ryori" is vegetarian cuisine at its most refined consisting of pickled vegetables, plus a variety of tofu dishes beautifully arranged on lacquerware and an assortment of ceramic plates.
    shojin-ryori-1.jpg
  • Shofu-en has three famous gardens: Iwakura, Horai and Kyokusui. These modern Japanese gardens were designed by Mirei Shigemori during the Showa era. They are among the greatest of Japanese gardens designed after the Meiji era. Mirei designed them with a combination of rocks, and the opposite concepts of "stillness" and "movement" in harmony.
    matsuo-shrine-garden-5.jpg