Kyoto

Kyoto is a city in the island of Honshu, in Japan; an ancient imperial capital. Kyoto has 1.6 million inhabitants, and important Japanese cultural assets (Architecture, gardens, palaces and Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines). Kyoto is part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.

Capital of Japan from 794 until the 1868 "Meiji Restoration", this city is cupped in a ring of mountains and cut through by rivers. It is home of several UNESCO World Heritage sites. [1] The UNESCO World Heritage Site encompasses several locations in Japan (Kyoto, Otsu, Uji and Nikko Cities, and Shiretoko, in northeastern Hokkaido).

Kyoto is most well known in the western world for being the city in which the Kyoto Protocol was drafted.

Important places

A purification ceremony with period costumes at the Jonengu shrine.

• Kiomizudera, a famouse 40-foot platform
  
• Ryuan-Ji, the Temple of the famous rock garden
  
• Kinkaku-Ji the temple of Gold
  
• Ginkaku-Ji, the temple of modesty
  
• Kamigamo JInja, the shrine of lightning [2]

Bibliography

Guides

• Carpenter, Juliet Winter, and S. Sen. Seeing Kyoto (2005) excerpt and text search
• Rowthorn, Chris. Lonely Planet Kyoto: City Guide (2005) excerpt and text search
• Treib, Marc, and Ron Herman. A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto(2003) excerpt and text search

History

• Berry, Mary Elizabeth. The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto. (1994). 373
• Berry, Mary Elizabeth. "Restoring the Past: the Documents of Hideyoshi's Magistrate in Kyoto." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 1983 43(1): 57-95. Issn: 0073-0548 in Jstor]
• Dougill, John. Kyoto: A Cultural History (2006) excerpt and text search
• Fiévé, Nicolas and Paul Waley, eds. Japanese capitals in historical perspective: place, power and memory in Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo (2003)
• Gay, Suzanne. The Moneylenders of Late Medieval Kyoto.' (2001) 313pp
• Gotoda, Teruo. The Local Politics of Kyoto. 1985. 161 pp. online edition
• Hareven, Tamara K. The Silk Weavers of Kyoto: Family and Work in a Changing Traditional Industry. 2002. 371 pp. online edition
• Morioka, Michiyo and Berry, Paul. Modern Masters of Kyoto: The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions. (1999). 333 pp.
• Nagata, Mary Louise. "Headship and Succession in Early Modern Kyoto: the Role of Women." Continuity and Change 2004 19(1): 73-104. Issn: 0268-4160 Fulltext: Cambridge UP
• Paine, Robert Treat, and Alexander Soper. The Art and Architecture of Japan. (1955) online edition.
• Ropke, Ian Martin. Historical Dictionary of Osaka and Kyoto. (1999) 285 pp. Isbn 0-8108-3622-x.

Primary sources

• Nakano, Makiko. Makiko's Diary: A Merchant's Wife in 1910 Kyoto. (1995). 304 pp.
• Kyoto City Council. The Official Guide-book to Kyoto and the Allied Prefectures (1895) 309pp; full text online

See also

• Ise
• Yokohama
• Tokyo
• Kamakura