Hanatoro (花灯路)

Hanatoro (花灯路), which means "flower and light road", is a set of illumination events that take place in the Higashiyama District of Kyoto in March and the Arashiyama district of Kyoto in December. During Hanatoro the streets are illuminated by thousands of lanterns set throughout popular areas combined with flower and light displays.

Many temples and shrines are illuminated and have special extended viewing hours. In addition, live and street performances are held at stages around the area. The pleasant and unique atmosphere of Hanatoro attracts many visitors who can stroll the streets and see a different side of Kyoto.

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Everything Japan Revival!

Hello everyone,

It's been about 8 months without any updates from my hiatus. I'm going to have this blog back and running around mid-February! Keep a look out for new posts.

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Sumiyoshi Taisha (住吉大社)

Osaka's Sumiyoshi Taisha (住吉大社) is one of Japan's oldest shrines. Founded in the 3rd century before the introduction of Buddhism, it displays a unique style of shrine architecture, called Sumiyoshi-zukuri, that is free of influence from the Asian mainland. Only two other shrine architecture styles are also considered purely Japanese: Shinmei-zukuri as seen at the Ise Shrines and Taisha-zukuri as seen at Izumo Taisha.

Sumiyoshi-zukuri is characterized by straight roofs (as opposed to the curved roofs commonly built in later centuries) which are decorated by two sets of forked finials (chigi) and five horizontal billets (katsuogi). Furthermore, buildings constructed in Sumiyoshi-zukuri style have their entrance under the gable and are surrounded by a fence.

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