Product Description

What better way to see Kyoto than at dawn, when the back streets and alleys of this 1,200-year-old city are still under the spell of the past? Old folks fuss about with their bonsai and laundry poles, pausing to chat on their way to the neighborhood shrine with flowers and morning prayers. Knock-kneed white egrets stalk the stream beds for breakfast, and the giant bronze temple bells awaken the former capital of Japan every morning as they have done for centuries.

Through wars, fires, famines, tyrants, and now rapid modernization, the old neighborhoods of Kyoto are the places where the customs and traditions of this fascinating city, with its confusing blend of old and new, have managed to survive.

American writer and former Kyoto resident Diane Durston introduces seven must-see precincts of this ancient capital city, including four Historic Preservation Districts. Among them are the world-famous geisha quarter, the kimono textile neighborhoods, the sake-brewing area of Fushimi, and the tea-growing region of Uji. Durston weaves together local lore and historical sites to create a panoply of provocative walking tours that take the reader back in time to the elegance of earlier days.

Accompanying each section is a full-color map and the fine photography of Katsuhiko Mizuno, a Kyoto native and one of the city's most famous photographers. Sections highlighting Kyoto crafts, cuisine, festivals, and tourist essentials round out this attractive volume, making it the perfect introduction -- and guide -- to one of the world's most evocative cities.

Features

* Photographs by one of Kyoto's most renowned photographers
* Locations of the most important Historic Preservations Districts
* Detailed maps and suggested routes
* Scenic and little-known walking paths
* Completely revised and updated information

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102184 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

Review
"... an eloquent look at seven neighborhoods where everyday life in Japan continues despite the crush of modernity." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Diane Durston's books are classics and have not been superseded by more recent publications." -- New York Times

"Everyone that loves Kyoto knows that Diane Curston is its modern poet laureate." -- Pico Iyer

"Explore the hidden beauty of historic neighborhoods with seven walking tours that transport visitors back to more elegant times." -- Endless Vacation, May / June 2003

Review

"Everyone that loves Kyoto knows that Diane Curston is its modern poet laureate." -Pico Iyer
"Diane Durston's books are classics and have not been superseded by more recent publications." -The New York Times
"An eloquent look at seven neighborhoods where everyday life in Japan continues despite the crush of modernity." --Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Explore the hidden beauty of historic neighborhoods with seven walking tours that transport visitors back to more elegant times." -Endless Vacation

About the Author
Diane Durston is a writer, lecturer, and consultant on Japan and Asian cultures. She has written three books on Kyoto, where she lived for eighteen years, including Old Kyoto: A Guide to Traditional Shops, Restaurants and Inns, now in its fifteenth printing and considered by many a travel classic. Durston has worked extensively as a writer, consultant, and event coordinator on Japanese and Chinese culture for museums, universities, and corporations for the past fifteen years. In 1995, Durston moved to Portland, Oregon, where she is currently the Special Projects Director of the Portland Art Museum.

Katsuhiko Mizuno is a professional photographer based in Kyoto. After graduating from Doshisha University and the Tokyo College of Photography, he forged a career shooting traditional scenes in and around Kyoto. He has over a hundred books to his name in English and Japanese, including Landscapes for Small Spaces: Japanese Courtyard Gardens. Mizuno lives in a renovated machiya house in Kyoto, and runs the Machiya Photo Museum.

Customer Reviews

A wonderful book for a beautiful city
I was privileged to have spent 4 months in Japan, but of all the places I visited, I fell in love with Kyoto. This is a marvelous book for doing all the walking that one needs to do here. Take a city tour first, but then leave several days to revisit all the places that enthralled you, and believe me, there will be many! Get this book and study it well; you won't be disappointed.

walking tours of Kyoto
This book is a series of maps for walking tours in different parts of Kyoto. It tells how to get to the start of a walk, what you will see along the way, and how long the walk might take. You will see the site seeing jewels of this ancient and wonderful city, but you will also see their settings which are equally beautiful. Each walking tour has a little writeup on the area, its history, and pictures of what you might see. If this book has a shortcoming it is that it does not have enough pictures, but these are the picture you need to take, and hopefully share. This book is one of the best books for planing a visit to Kyoto if you are in the area for only a short time. I lived there for three years, and use this book to reminisce - along with my photographs of places along each walk.

not a guide book; a large (but thin) picture book
Just to be clear: this is not a guide you can take to Kyoto and walk around with; it's a somewhat generic "coffeetable" (but paperback) book that has some well-reproduced photographs. If that's what you're looking for, you might enjoy, but I was looking for a kind of idiosyncratic walker's guide and this is certainly not it.