Kōyō, as we learned in the last blog post, refers to the color of autumn leaves. Sennen no Miyako means “the 1000-year capital” and it is a nickname for Kyoto. The city was established as the Imperial capital in 794 and, although the de-facto power center shifted over the centuries, Kyoto remained the home of the imperial family until the Meiji restoration in 1868. If you ask some modern day Kyotoites, this is still the true home town of the Emperor and capital of Japan. People from other parts of the country are sometimes referred to as being “from the countryside”. It does not matter if they are from Tokyo, a megacity which totally dwarfs the little rural 1.5-million people town of Kyoto.
The Imperial palace grounds were open to the public a couple of days this month. It is a vast park area with beautiful buildings sprawling all over. A little while before closing hour on the last open day, I was finally able to drag myself over there, a five-minute ride on my bike.
Japan is one of very few countries in the world that does not have an official national emblem. Instead the Chrysanthemum Crest is used, which is properly the family crest of the Imperial family. The gable ends of the Imperial palace grounds were totally cluttered with chrysanthemums.
I love the well balanced unruliness of Japanese architecture!
The gardens were so incredibly beautiful... Just a bit difficult to catch it in a two-dimensional photograph. Kōyō in the background.
Glimpse of kōyō
Big kōyō.
No comments:
Post a Comment