Thread by @camelliakyoto

🌞🎎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