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The lanterns of Uradeyama (Gion Matsuri float)
This year, the rainy season was over pretty quickly, so it is under a blue sky that the Gion Matsuri starts! The float is dedicated to...


Naginata-Boko Float of Gion Festival
Hokotate (鉾建て, the assembling work for floats of Gion festival) was launched yesterday. Among the 33 floats of the festival, the most...


Bochukoh, Fragrant Mothballs
When I was a child, I used to smell a very favorable scent every time my mother opened the drawer of her chest. I was thinking she put...


Kimono Calender
Hitoe (単衣, unlined Kimono) is a type of Kimono worn in June and September in Japan. In July and August, Natsumono (夏物, summer Kimono made...


Tips for Wearing Kimono in a Cool Manner
It has become the Tsuyu (梅雨, rainy season in Japan) and is getting really hot and humid. From now on, the weather will be scorching even...


Nejiri-Manpo, a Peculiar Brick Tunnel
Around the Keage (蹴上) station of subway line, there are many historic spots related to the Biwako-sosui (琵琶湖疎水, Lake Biwa canal), such as...


Kofuku Jizo at Suzumushidera Temple
Kegon-ji (華厳寺) temple, also known as Suzumushidera (鈴虫寺, Cricket Temple), is very popular in Japan for the beautiful chirps of crickets...


A Shed Where Sakamoto Ryoma Hid
The life of Sakamoto Ryoma (坂本龍馬) was a short one, but his name remains as the man who established the monumental work called Saccho...


Misasagi, Graveyard of Tragic Empress
In Kyoto, there are many graveyards of emperors and empresses. Those graveyards are called Goryo (御陵) or Misasagi (陵). At a quiet place...


Warabe-jizo (Statues of Bodhisattva Who Look Like Children) at Sanzen-in Temple
The most famous place in the Ohara (大原) district in Kyoto is Sanzen-in (三千院) temple. The Sanzen-in temple, founded in the Heian (平安)...