Saga Arashiyama Museum of Arts & Culture

 

When I visited this place, when all these photos were taken, it was called the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Shigureden, and it had just opened.

Now it has re-opened as the Saga-Arashiyama Museum of Arts & Culture.

The Hyakunin Isshu is an anthology of one hundred poems by one hundred poets, and the most famous version is the one created by Fujiwara no Teika about 800 years ago while he was living in the Ogura district of Kyoto, and so it is known as the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The 100 poems were made into card games, karuta in Japanese, in the Edo Period and are still very popular with serious competitions taking place.

Here, each poem is printed along with an English translation and a small figurine of the poet.

Upstairs is a huge open space with tatami flooring and various types of paintings, screens, scrolls, etc

I read that events are planned for the massive second-floor space, including karuta competitions.

The museum is situated right on the bank of the Katsura River, in the heart of the tourist area of Arashiyama.

There is a cafe with a terrace which looks oiut on a modern, but Japanese style garden.

The previous post in this series on Arashiyama was on the historic preservation district at the top of the town.

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