🌞🎎DRAPED IN SILK🏖️🏔️

Just beside our Camellia Garden teahouse runs Kinukake-no-michi (きぬかけの路 the 'Silk-draped Path'), a 2km stretch of road that joins the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺 The Golden Pavilion), Ryōan-ji (龍安寺) and Ninnai-ji (仁和寺).
An iconic golden pavilion (restored after a novice burnt the original down in 1950), the world's most famous Zen garden, & a former imperial palace are just some of the most well-known attractions to be enjoyed along Kinukake-no-michi.

But always venture off the beaten track!😉
But what does the road have to do with draped silk?
Well, Kinukake-no-michi (きぬかけの路) winds through the foothills of Mt. Kinugasa (衣笠山), known also as Mt. Kinukake (絹笠山).

The mountain is named after an incident involving Emperor Uda (宇多天皇).
#Kyoto #Japan #衣笠山
During a summer stay at Omuro Goshō (御室御所), Uda impulsively thought it would be cooling to see the nearby mountain covered in snow. He had men unravel white bolts of silk on the slopes to create the wintry effect.
The mountain was soon christened Mt. Kinukake (絹笠山).
#Kyoto
We don't have bolts of silk to cool us down, but we do have Kameya Shigehisa's (亀屋重久) delightful 'iwashimizu' (岩清水).
Shaped like a maple leaf and flavoured with a hint of ume, the sweet's name references spring water bubbling up through moss covered rocks🫧💦
#和菓子 #京都
Water also inspired another of Kameya Shigehisa's (亀屋重久) summer confections...this time waves crashing on a rocky coastline.
'Araiso' (荒磯), a phrase commonly found in poetry, describes a windswept and wave-beaten shore.
Fortunately the rocks here tasted of muscovado😋
#荒磯

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More from @camelliakyoto

Aug 4
Happy "Owl Day"!🦉🙌

when the owl hoots
how many are left?
wildflowers
ふくろふよ鳴ばいくらの草の花
-Issa (小林一茶), 1810.

#OwlAwarenessDay #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay #owls #フクロウ #Japan #ukiyoe #浮世絵

Image thanks🙇‍♂️ - ukiyo-e.org & harashobo.com ImageImageImageImage
Through a play on words, in Japan owls have come to be celebrated as bringers of luck and relievers of suffering.

🦉'Fukurō' (梟 'owl') can be broken down into homonyms for...
🍀'luck comes' (福 'fuku' /来 'ku' /郎 'rō').
🤕'without hardship' (不 'fu' /苦労 'kurō').
#Japan #梟 ImageImageImageImage
Owls make a regular appearance in Beniya Miyake's (紅谷三宅 @beniyamiyake) annual line-up.

Last autumn's creations were known as "owls that bring good fortune" (幸運を呼ぶミミズク)🦉😋

➡️beniyamiyake.raku-uru.jp
➡️instagram.com/beniya_miyake/
#wagashi #和菓子 #フクロウ #梟 #紅谷三宅 ImageImageImageImage
Read 8 tweets
Aug 2
🍡MOREISH MITARASHI😋
Today is the beginning of a three-day period celebrating mitarashi dango (みたらし団子)!🎉

Actually, this happens every month from the 3rd-5th because...
3= 'MI' (み)
4= 'taraSHI' (たらし)
5= 'danGO' (だんご)

Tenuous wordplay? Yes.
Fun? Also, yes.
#京都
In its traditional form, mitarashi dango is made up of 5 small rice dumplings...skewered, grilled, and served with a sweet soy sauce glaze.

Legend has it that the inspiration for the snack came from a miraculous incident involving Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 1288-1339).
#Japan
During one of Go-Daigo's outings to Shimogamo-jinja, 5 bubbles appeared in the water as he purified his hands.
Interpreted as the human body (五体 - head, arms and legs), it was taken as a fortuitous sign.
The emperor offered 5 rice dumplings (4 big & 1 small) to the shrine gods.
Read 12 tweets
Aug 2
👣🗾SCATTERING EARTH🤏⛰️
For 25 years Kurita Kōichi (栗田宏一) has walked the length and breadth of Japan, gathering small samples of soil from each settlement (whether hamlet, village, town or city) he passes through.
At Hōnen-in (法然院) he made a dedication of his life's work. ImageImageImageImage
Kurita's dedication was inspired by the temple's 'sange' (散華), a ritual offering of flowers made early each morning. 25 flowers (usually camellia) are dedicated to a statue of Amida. The flowers represent the 25 bodhisattva who help Amida take the souls of the dead to paradise.
Hōnen-in is no stranger to using earth and sand as a form of offering.

Upon entering the temple visitors pass through the 'Byakusadan' (白砂壇), 2 terraces of white sand (roughly 7m long, 3m wide and 10cm high).
Said to symbolize water, the sand purifies the body and soul.
#京都 ImageImageImageImage
Read 13 tweets
Jul 12
👅MELT-IN-THE-MOUTH MORSELS💦

Wibbly-wobbly warabimochi (わらび餅)☺️

A popular summer snack in Kansai, the melt-in-your-mouth warabimochi is a jelly-like sweet traditionally made from bracken starch (わらび粉 'warabiko').
It's covered with sweet, toasted soybean flour (黄粉).
There is a legend that Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇 885-930) loved a particular type of warabimochi so much that he bestowed on it the rank of 'dayū' (大夫 -5th court rank). Over time 'Oka-tayū' (岡大夫) came to be used for warabimochi in general.
#Kyoto #Japan #わらび餅 #warabimochi
As real bracken starch (warabi) can be very expensive, many stores nowadays substitute it with potato, tapioca or kudzu (Japanese arrowroot) starch.

Today's delicious warabimochi is from Sagano's 'Chikuji-an' (嵯峨野/竹路庵). It's absolutely buried in kinako!🙌
#Japan #Kyoto
Read 13 tweets
Jul 12
🪢IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME🪵

Between July 10-14th the floats that will participate in the Gion Matsuri's first parade (the 'Saki Matsuri' 先祭り - July 17th) are constructed. The parts are laid out, slotted together, and then meticulously bound in rope.
#Kyoto #祇園祭
The 'hoko' (鉾) take around 3 days to complete, the smaller 'yama' (山) only 1. Float decorations are displayed in the 'kaisho' (会所), the meeting place of each 'float neighbourhood'.
Using only rope to bind the float skeletons allows for much more flexibility during the parade. ImageImageImageImage
Float frames are known as 'yagura-gumi' (やぐら組み 'turret style'), and the method of binding is called 'nawa-garami' (縄がらみ 'rope construction').

Ropes are held in place by a series of intricate knots, such as the 'prawn knot' (海老結び) & 'female butterfly bow' (雌蝶結び). ImageImageImageImage
Read 11 tweets
Jul 8
🥁THE FLOATS OF THE GION MATSURI🙌
July, consumed as it is with the Gion Matsuri, always passes in the blink of an eye, so I thought I'd compile a list of the 34 individual floats ('yamaboko' 山鉾) that you'll be able to see at this month's festival.

#GionMatsuri #祇園祭 #Kyoto ImageImageImageImage
1) NAGINATA-HOKO (長刀鉾)⚔️

The Naginata-hoko always leads the Gion Matsuri's first parade, the 'Saki Matsuri' (先祭り). As it is exempt from the lottery to determine the position of the floats, it was known in the past as 'Kuji-torazu' (くじ取らず 'Lot-drawing Not Necessary'). ImageImageImageImage
The float's name comes from the long halberd (鉾 'hoko') that rises from its roof to drive away evil. It is said the original was made by famed swordsmith Sanjō Munechika (三條宗近) in the 10thC to thank the gods after his daughter was spared from a terrible plague.
#Japan #Kyoto ImageImageImageImage
Read 86 tweets

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