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京都

Kyoto lies in Western Honshu, the main island of Japan. This city, regarded as one of Japan's most beautiful, wore the country's imperial robes for over1,000 years, until Tokyo became the modern capital in 1868.

Emerging from ultra-modern Kyoto Station, you may wonder, "where are the centuries of culture andtradition this city is famous for?" And as you look down upon the gridded streets from Kyoto Tower, you might even be forgiven for thinking you've arrived at the wrong city. Yet, the old Kyoto is all around you, and more often than not, it's right under your nose.

From Kyoto Tower, head east, and push through the curtains of the downtown'high-rise, into the streets of Gion. It is here, in this historic entertainment quarter, that you'll begin to catch glimpses of one of Kyoto's most alluring traditions, the geisha. Refined, artistic and otherworldly, the geisha are the very embodiment of old Kyoto.

Venture further east, into narrow alleyways like Ishibe Koji, and feel the echoes of the past amid the rows of traditional Kyoto-style houses. It's in areas like this you'll find some of Kyoto's finest Ryokan. These traditional inns originated in the Edoperiod, and are the perfect places to lay your head and dream of days gone by.

Just a rickshaw ride away, are the traffic-free streets of Sannen-zakaand Ninen-zaka. Explore the traditional tea houses and crafts shops, then retrace the steps of generations of worshipers who made their way to and from the nearby hilltop temples.

Kyoto is known as "the city of 10,000 shrines", and it would take a lifetime to experiencethem all. Kyoto residents' place enormous importance in the seasons. And just like the seasons, every place of worship has its own coloursits own mood.

There are places of spacious austerity, such as the Heian Shrine, dedicated to the first, and the last, of the city's emperors. And intimate places, such as the Shorenin Temple, where you are invited to sit, and quietly contemplate the gardens outside.

Visit temples dominated by stone, such as the Kiyomizadera, one of the most revered in Japan. And others crafted from ancient timbers, suchas Tofukuji, loved for its covered bridges which span valleys filled with maple and spruce.

Water is an integral and unifying element in all of Kyoto's places of worship. At the Kodai Temple, let your thoughts drift across a raked gravel garden which represents the infinite ocean.

For a water feature with a difference, visit Nanzenji, and rest beneath the arches of a 19th- century aqueduct, which still supplies much of the city'swater.

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