Sagano - Kyoto's Delightful but less Known Neighbourhood

Readers who follow this Section may recall a tribute written two years ago to Kyoto, one of Japan’s most historic and beloved cities. However, such is the beauty of the place that one visit is simply insufficient to fully absorb the huge diversity of its sights and moods. It was with this fact in mind that I decided to make a second journey to what many consider the country’s most fascinating city.

Kyoto is a place where tradition, artistry and religious observance come together to produce a truly special result.

Originally called Heian Kyo or Capital of Peace, Kyoto was founded some twelve centuries ago and remained Japan’s Imperial Capital until late in the 1800s. Over its centuries as the site of the Imperial Court, it became the source of many of the country’s greatest achievements in architecture and culture. These are still very much in evidence today.

Indeed, Kyoto is a place where tradition, artistry and religious observance come together to produce a truly special result. The city is home to nearly two thousand Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines - most of them dating back hundreds of years and, quite interestingly, many of which are still very much in active use today. One of the most intriguing of these is the Ryoanji Temple with its world-famous Zen Garden.

Here the visitor sits on simple wooden benches and looks out upon a rock garden of some 30 by 10 meters. The individual small round stones which make up the base of the garden are very carefully raked into diverse circular patterns. Atop these stones sit fifteen much larger rocks, each with its own distinctive shape and texture. It is said that if the visitor sits back and gazes out over this scene, a state of reverie is achieved and all earthly cares lose any significance.