Takayama is a city that was directly under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate and still has many buildings from the Edo period, which is why it is also called Little-Kyōto

Apart from the historical quarter, I also visited the Takayama Jin’ya, the seat of the governor during the Edo period. This seat is also the only surviving governor’s residence of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Shirakawa-gō (“Village on the White River”) and Gokayama, are three historic villages and have been recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. I only visited the village Ogimachi in Shirakawa. The houses in these villages are built in a special architectural style, the Gasshō-zukuri. In this the roof is thatched and at an angle of about 60°. This enables the houses to withstand the extremely heavy snowfall, as the snow slides down from the roof. Furthermore, due to the lack of space in the region (only narrow valleys), the houses are relatively large and have 3-4 floors, all of which are actively used. In the upper floors silkworm breeding was started until the 70s and Japanese paper was made from the leaves of the mulberry bushes. While the saltpetre production on the ground floor came to a standstill in the 19th century due to cheaper imports.

Whereby the geishas (“person of the arts”) call themselves geiko (“woman of the arts”) in Kyōto. A geisha is a respected entertainer and must master conversations, Japanese traditional arts, playing musical instruments, and be a good singer, dancer and hostess. The distinction to prostitution, as sometimes portrayed, is very sharp. An erotic appearance is prohibited. The training begins since 1952 at the age of 16, lasts about 5 years and is very expensive. The costs are covered by an Okiya ( tea house owner ) and then paid back with the work. After repayment many geishas become independent and at the same time successful entrepreneurs. A geisha in training is called hangyoku (“half jewel”) or oshaku in Tokyo and maiko (“dancing girl”) in Kyōto. You can tell the level of education by the clothes and accessories. Put simply, the simpler and more discreet the make-up and clothing, the older the maiko or geisha. The white make-up base is worn permanently by the maikos and by the older geishas it is only usually worn during performances or special occasions. Now I have written so much about the geishas, but have not seen any in Kyōto. At most a few Maikos, but they could have been tourists in costumes…

His shrines are characteristically easy to recognize by their fox statues and torii gates. The Fushimi Inari-Taisha is one of the oldest and most famous shrines in Kyōto and is best known for the thousands of scarlet torii that wind in avenues around the mountains. It takes about 2-3 hours to get to the top, which I didn’t make due to lack of time (had to go somewhere else) and I am not slow. I made it far up with a nice view, but I didn’t know how far it would go. In any case I liked this shrine very much.

Unfortunately, the Honmaru-goten Palace, the gardens and the base wall of the keep were closed due to restoration work. So mainly only the Ninomaru-goten Palace was open to visitors, which is a national cultural treasure, as it is the only preserved example of a fortified palace complex.

Formally it is called Higashiyama Jishōji and is the center of the Higashiyama culture, which is also connected to the Zen culture at this place. Of the original complex, only 2 buildings remain, which are considered national cultural treasures and are part of the UNESCO World Heritage historic Kyōto.