Said to have begun when the British royal family used it in Meiji 14 (1881,) you can enjoy the Hozu River cruise and have fun learning about the history and culture of those who lived alongside the river, while listening to the boat’s captain’s funny stories.
Miyama-cho is renowned for its surviving thatched-roof houses built between 220 (Edo period) and 150 (Meiji period) years ago. The town was selected as the ‘Best Tourism Village’ at the 24th UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) General Assembly. The peaceful rural landscape and thatched roofs match each other to create a soothing scene.
At Mt. Oe, where the legends of Shuten Doji remain, you can see beautiful seas of clouds as autumn turns into winter. At the foot of Mt. Oe, due to the big temperature difference between night and day Yura river basin, it is said that fog readily forms, and the fog that builds up between the mountains looks like a sea of clouds, and so it is called the “sea of clouds.” You can see the sea of clouds in early morning from November to December. Situated at the eighth station on Mt. Oe, Onitake Inari Shrine is a famous spot for viewing the spectacular sea of clouds.
The Ashiu wild forest is a gigantic wild forest covering 4,179.7 hectares by the source of the Yura River on the borders of Kyoto, Fukui, and Shiga Prefectures, known as “Miyama Kayabuki no Sato,” located in Miyamicho, Nantan Town, Kyoto Prefecture. The area is also called “Ashiu Forest,” has been designated as “Kyoto Tamba Plateau National Park,” and visitor numbers are restricted. This precious wild forest is one of the few places in the Kansai area where you can see beech tree wild forests and the original Japanese landscape.
Kyoto by the Sea offers these and many other activities to experience the sea, the mountains, and the countryside.
Ine, which is designated as one of the most beautiful villages in Japan. The village is notable for its funaya houses, which are built with space for storing a fishing boat.
Temari-zushi, also known as Kyo-zushi, is made for maiko (apprentice geisha) in an elegant, easy-to-eat, bite-size shape to prevent touching on the lips. Visitors can try to make the temari-zushi at “Hekitei”, a traditional samurai residence.
Numerous temples and shrines attest to the region’s long history, including Manpukuji—a Chinese-style Zen temple founded by the monk Ingen, who is often called the father of sencha. With generations of tea culture everywhere in evidence, a walk through Uji’s landscape can aptly be called “a walk through 800 years of tea history.” Across the Uji region, the history and culture of tea production have shaped the natural setting. The land is divided into tea fields, tea factories, and wholesaler districts, each with a distinctive character. The fields themselves form sweeping, verdant vistas that curve across the foothills.
Named after Tango, an old province of Japan, Tango barazushi is made in a wooden box. Various ingredients—including mackerel crumbles, which are unique to this dish—are arranged on top of sushi rice. Traditionally, Tango barazushi is eaten on special occasions, and the rice is divided with a wooden spatula and eaten as a family.
Pickling fish or vegetables in rice bran is called nukazuke and is a traditional preservation method in Japan. When made using mackerel, nukazuke is known as heshiko in Kyoto by the Sea.
