Around Takano高野周辺

A fashionable street in a historic site along the river. Enko-ji Temple, built as a school by the first shogun of Tokugawa.

The Takano district is located in Sakyo-ku along the Takano-gawa River at the eastern foot of Mt. Hiei-zan, with Kawabata-dori Street running through it from north to south. Near the Ichijoji Station (Eizan Dentetsu Eizan Line), alongside the Takano-gawa River, is Enko-ji Temple. It was founded by the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, as a school to encourage the development of mathematics in the 17th century. Enko-ji Temple preserves a number of books imported from Korea, as well as wooden print blocks used for publishing during the Edo Period. Shisen-do, next to the Enko-ji Temple, is where the portraits of thirty-six Chinese poets are drawn on the four walls.

In the area near Shugakuin Station is the Shugakuin Rikyu Palace, which was constructed in the mid-17th century in a way to make the best of the surrounding natural features, including a man-made waterfall with water drawn from the Otowa-gawa River. The view is marvelous, and the flow of visitors never seems to end. (You need to apply for permission in order to visit the palace.)

On Shirakawa-dori Street, which served as the pivot in the highway from Kyoto through Ohara to Omi (now known as Shiga), there used to be teashops for the weary travelers, but now it has been transformed into a merry shopping area with fashionable boutiques, fashion goods shops and coffee shops, and it is always crowded with young people.