Lower Sagi Toriimoto Historic Preservation District

 

Sagi Toriimoto is an Historic Preservation District in Arashiyama, near Kyoto

In an earlier post, I covered the upper section, a group of thatched, 400 year old buildings, a couple of which still operate as eateries.

This section is more visited and includes plenty of retail establishments as well as private houses.

One of the old houses is open as a kind of free museum about the district.

The Sagi Toriimoto Town Conservation Museum is in a row of traditional machiya townhouses.

The exterior has a facade of lattices and mullioned windows.

The interior has raised tatami floors and some Meiji-era features including a coal-burning kitchen and interior water well.

The building dates back to the early Meiji Period and was renovated in 1993.

There are historic maps, photos, and architectural diagrams of the area.

A diorama shows how the area looked in 1930.

The previous post in this series on Arashiyama was on the upper section of Sagi Toriimoto.

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Upper Saga Toriimoto Historic Preservation District

 

Saga Toriimoto is a small district at the very edge of Kyoto, up a narrow road leading to the mountain Atago Shrine.

It is one of the historic architectural preservation districts in Kyoto, though I would wager probably the least visited.

In my last post, I looked at two of the 400-year-old thatched buildings still operating as eateries.

This time, some of the other thatched buildings around the same area.

The area was originally farmhouses, but developed into a "shrine town" serving the growing number of pilgrims heading up to Atago Shrine.

Toriimoto means "around the torii", the vermilion first torii on the path up the mountain.

I became quite fascinated by these preservation districts, of which there are more than 120 scattered around Japan.

Some are well-known and very touristy, but many are off the beaten track and, to my mind, a bit more authentic.

click on the "preservation district" tag at the bottom of this post for more of my posts on them.

I believe the tags don't show in the smartphone version of these pages..... 

The previous post in this series on Arashiyama was on the kaiseki restaurants in two of the thatched former farmhouses.

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Ayuchaya Hiranoya & Ayu no Yado Tsutaya

 

After visiting the delightful 1200 Rakan at Otagi Nembutsuji Temple I descended the narrow mountain road and came into the area known as Saga Toriimoto, an absolutely delightful area of old thatched buildings at the top end of Arashiyama.

The area is an historic preservation area, but in this post I will concentrate on just two buildings, both of them eateries with long traditions.

The top one, just above the vermillion torii, and therefore the first one I visited first is Ayuchaya Hiranoya.

It was still a couple of hours till opening time, but it was open, and I could peer inside....

Said to have been in business for 400 years, it was originally a teahouse and an ayu (sweetfish) wholesaler. The road is the route to Atago Shrine a very popular pilgrimage site and the torii is the first torii marking the route.

Ofuda left by pilgrims are plastered over the woodwork....

The ayu were caught up in the mountains, and "rested" in fresh water barrels overnight, and then carried into the restaurants of Kyoto the next morning. Nowadays the ayu are served directly to customers. I believe it is like a small trout.

The current proprietress is the 15th generation.

Nearby, just below the torii, is Ayu no Yado Tsutaya.

It is also about 400 years old.

Tsutaya has a similar history to Hironaya, starting out as a teahouse and then serving meals, especially ayu.

In 1989 the guest rooms were refurbished by leading designers and craftsmen.

I believe that advance bookings are necessary.

But even if you are not eating or drinking there, the walk up from Arashiyama rewards the visitor with  remarkable historical scenery.

The previous post in this series on Arashiyama was on portraits of the unique rakan statues at Otagi Nembutsuji Temple a little up the hill from here...

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Portraits of Rakan

 

This third post on Otagi Nembutsuji Temple in Arashiyama focuses on close-up portraits of some of the 1200 Rakan statues there.

Earlier posts looked at the temple and its history, and then at shots of the 1200 Rakan.

With Rakan, it is normal that every single figure is different, and it is said that you will not fail to find at least one that reminds you of someone you know.

The vast majority here at Otagi Nembutsuji were made by amateurs.

However, the head priest was himself a sculptor and so some instruction was certainkly given.

I did notice a certain stylistic similarity to most of the noses...

The previous two posts were on the temple and its history, and an overview of the hundreds and hundreds of statues...

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.