TBA

Kyoto City has a living culture that has been handed down for over a thousand years. You can feel it in how the streets, kimono, shrines, and temples make you aware of the changing of the seasons.

Kyoto was designed to be a capital city. Emperor Kanmu transferred the imperial court here in 794, and it remained until 1869. Being the capital also made Kyoto a cultural center. You can feel the length of Kyoto’s enduring influence in everything from the continually refined cultural practices to the buildings and gardens that have stood the test of time.

It is the birthplace of “Choju Jinbutsu Giga,” Japan’s first manga. The earliest known manga (Japanese comics), “The Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans", were drawn about 800 years ago. These humorous picture scrolls depict expressive animals behaving like people. The scrolls are kept at Kozanji Temple in Kyoto’s Takao area. You can also see modern manga at the Kyoto International Manga Museum.