X-Nico

21 unusual facts about Kyōto


Akira Murata

Akira Murata (村田昭 Murata Showa) (b. March 25, 1921 in Higashiyama, Kyoto - February 3, 2006) is the founder of Murata Manufacturing.

Asia-Pacific Green Network

32 Parties from 30 nations got together in February 2005 in Kyoto, Japan, to found the network.

Bockscar

The delay at the rendezvous had resulted in clouds and drifting smoke from fires started by a major firebombing raid by 224 B-29s on nearby Yawata the previous day covering 70% of the area over Kokura, obscuring the aiming point.

Hashihime

She came to be associated most often with a bridge in Uji.

Hatakeyama Yoshifusa

Yoshifusa was a patron to scholars, and invited various scholars from Kyoto to lecture at Nanao.

Hiko Seijūrō

The thirteenth successor to the sword art of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū, Hiko Seijūrō, born October 1836 in Kyoto, saved young Shinta from marauding bandits who killed his companions.

Hiko isolates himself from the rest of the world, reasoning that he does not have to deal with the ills of society by living as a hermit/potter in a forest near Kyoto.

Horikawa

Horikawa, Kyoto, one of main streets in Kyoto, whereupon lie the Horikawa Mansion of both Emperor Horikawa, and later, Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Hoshi Sato

According to a computer bio screen, barely visible in the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly", and taken from the memory banks of the USS Defiant, Sato was born in Kyoto, Japan.

Ingen

On May 21, 1673 (Enpō 1, 5th day of the 4th month), the Chinese Buddhist teacher Ingen died in the Obaku Zen temple, Mampuku-ji at Uji.

June Yamagishi

In 1972, he formed the West Road Blues Band in Kyoto along with vocalist Takashi "Hotoke" Nagai, guitarist Shinji Shiotsugu, bassist Tadashi Kobori, and drummer Teruo Matsumoto.

Koun Ejō

Following his master's death, Ejō left for Kannon-dōri-in (later changed to Kōshōhōrin-ji), Dōgen's newly established temple in Uji, where he would finally become his student.

School Wars: Hero

Set in the mid-1970s, the film is based on the true story of Yoshiharu Yamaguchi, a teacher and former Japanese international rugby union player, who turned-around a failing high school in Kyoto, giving special attention to the rugby team, which included the most disruptive students among its members.

Shūjirō Hara

Hara was born in Ayabe city, Kyoto prefecture, and was trained as a lawyer, graduating from the predecessor of Chuo University.

Sokuhi Nyoitsu

In 1663 Sokuhi met Ingen for the first time in 12 years, after he received permission to go to Uji where he was abbot of Manpuku-ji.

T-carrier

T-carriers are used in North America, South Korea, and Kyoto.

Takeno Jōō

While carrying on the family business in Sakai, Jōō, whose common name was Shingorō (新五郎), did religious duty as an attendant at the Honganji temple in the Yamashina region of Kyoto.

Tambaguchi Station

The station directly abuts the Kyoto Central Wholesale Market, and nearby is the defunct courtesan's district of Shimabara.

Tō-ji

On July 7, 2007 one of the Live Earth concerts (held to raise awareness of the earth’s climate) was staged at Tō-ji; artists who played included Bonnie Pink, Michael Nyman, Rip Slyme, UA and the Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Toshinari Takaoka

Toshinari Takaoka (高岡 寿成; born 24 September 1970 in Yamashiro, Kyoto) is a Japanese long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 metres, 10,000 metres and the marathon race.

Yamazaki Sōkan

(The location of this hermitage is somewhat debated, as the town of Shimamoto, Osaka claims to contain its remains, as does the Myōkian temple in Ōyamazaki, Kyoto.)


13th century in poetry

Princess Shikishi 式子内親王 (died 1201), late Heian and early Kamakura period poet, never-married daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa; entered service at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto in 1159, later left the shrine, in later years a Buddhist nun; has 49 poems in the Shin Kokin Shū anthology

300 Series Shinkansen

In the early hours of 1 March 1991, this set recorded a speed of 325.7 km/h on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Maibara and Kyoto, a Japanese national speed record at the time.

A-Train

Map construction adds the ability to build custom maps and terrains, and included pre-built cities Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe.

Agigawa Dam

The same area features a number of other attractions such as Ena Gorge, Iwamura Castle (made famous in the tale of the "Castle Mistress"), Japan Taishō Village (a theme park), the cities of Toki and Mizunami, which are well known for the production of Mino ceramic ware and Oribe ware; Magome-juku and Tsumago-juku, two stations on the Nakasendō, a road that connected Kyōto and Edo; Meiji Mura, and Inuyama Castle.

Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun

She worked as a research scholar at the Center for Eurasian Cultural Studies at Kyoto University, and is currently a professor at the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu.

Alexander Vovin

He has also been a visiting professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto (2001–2002, 2008), a visiting professor at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany (2008–2009), and a visiting professor at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) in Tokyo, Japan in May-August 2012.

Alphonso Lingis

The venue, staging and costumes were provided by the Kyoto-based neo-Dadaist group Phylloxera (Beatrix Fife, Mamoru Katagiri, Michael Lazarin).

Boucheron

The distribution network of Boucheron is made of 34 shops located all over the world (Paris, Cannes, Saint-Tropez, Monaco, Beirut, London, San Francisco, Tokyo, Saitama, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Okayama, Nagoya, Taipei, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Baku, Moscow and Almaty) and over 100 certified retailers.

Center versus periphery

In Kyoto, the capital of Japan around the time of the Edo period, there were as many as four different words for snail: dedemushi (ででむし), maimai (まいまい), katatsumuri (かたつむり), and tsuburi (つぶり).

Emperor Go-Kōgon

Emperor Go-Kōgon was forced to repeatedly flee from Kyoto to Ōmi Province and other places.

Flower Travellin' Band

Rescheduling, they released a half-studio, half-live album titled Make Up and in April performed at Maruyama Park in Kyoto.

Fusajiro Yamauchi

Yamauchi lived in Kyoto, Japan and had a daughter, Tei Yamauchi (who later married future Nintendo president and Fusajiro Yamauchi's successor, Sekiryo Kaneda).

Fushimi Station

Fushimi-Inari Station, Fushimi-Momoyama Station - on the Keihan Railway Keihan Main Line (both are located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto)

Hey, Landlord

Other tenants in the building are Sandy Baron as comedian Chuck Hookstratten, Jack (Michael Constantine) who was a photographer, glamorous Theresa (Pamela Rodgers) and her roommate and best friend Kyoto (Miko Mayama), who frequently yells, "Hey, Landlord!" thus giving the show its title.

Hiraizumi, Iwate

By building his home south of the Koromo, Kiyohira (half Emishi himself) demonstrated his intention to rule Oshu without official sanction from the court in Kyoto.

History of prostitution

In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka, Japan.

Ike no Taiga

Another artist who would have a dramatic influence on Taiga a little later in life, after his return to Kyoto, was Hakuin Ekaku, who stayed briefly at Taiga's home in 1752.

Japanese calligraphy

However, with the rise of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism a less technical style appeared, representative of Zen attitudes and exemplified in the works of Musō Soseki who wrote in a refined sosho style, or Shūhō Myōcho (1282–1337; better known as Daito Kokushi), the founder of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, who had not traveled to China to study.

JR Kyoto Line

In addition to the three types of commuter trains, long-distance limited express trains connecting the Kyoto-Osaka region with Kansai International Airport (Haruka services), Hokuriku region (Thunderbird and Raichō services) and other areas also frequently operate on the line.

Kitaguni

Major stops along the Kitaguni route included Shin-Osaka, Kyoto, Maibara, Tsuruga, Fukui, Kanazawa, Toyama, Naoetsu, and Nagaoka.

Kyōtamba, Kyoto

Its name comes from the first syllable of Kyōto and the former town of Tamba, a namesake of the historic Tamba Province.

Kyoto Energy

Kyoto Energy Ltd. was a founding partner of the Kyoto Institute of Renewable Energy, a public-private partnership between Kyoto Energy Ltd. and the Narok University College (a sub-constituent of Moi University).

Kyoto Line

JR Kyoto Line, an alias of a part of the Tōkaidō Main Line railway between Kyoto Station and Ōsaka Station

Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy

A Kyoto laureate is awarded a gold medal, a diploma, and a prize money of 50 million yen (US$530,000 or €413,000 as of March 2013), making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world.

Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station

Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station (京都市役所前駅 Kyōto shiyakusho-mae eki) is a stop on the Tozai Line of Kyoto Municipal Subway in Kyoto, Japan.

Marc P. Keane

Keane has worked as a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Design at the Kyoto University of Art and Design and at Cornell University, and is a fellow at the Research Center for Japanese Garden Art, Kyoto, Japan, and the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies, New York.

Matsubara Naoko

Naoko Matsubara’s father was the chief priest in a Shinto shrine in Kyoto.

Miyagiyama Fukumatsu

Miyagiyama is briefly mentioned in Chapter 17 of Memoirs of a Geisha, when many of the novel's main characters attend a sumo exhibition in Kyoto.

Ōi River

During the Edo period, the Tōkaidō developed as the major highway linking Edo with Kyoto, and daimyo from the western domains were forced to travel on a regular basis to Edo to attend to the Shogun in a system known as sankin kōtai.

Omotesenke

The Omotesenke estate, known by the name of its representative tea room, the "Fushin-an" (不審庵), was where Sen Rikyū's son-in-law, Sen Shōan, reestablished the Kyoto Sen household after Rikyū's death.

Ōshikōchi no Mitsune

He was sent as the governor of Kai, Izumi and Awaji provinces, and on his return to Kyoto was asked to participate in the compilation of the Kokin Wakashū.

Peppermoon

In early 2010, they toured in these countries for the first time, playing in Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Kyoto.

Regional climate change initiatives in the United States

On February 16, 2005, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched an initiative to advance the goals of the Kyoto Protocol through leadership and action by at least 141 American cities, and as of October, 2006, 319 mayors representing over 51.4 million Americans had accepted the challenge.

Rimpa school

Hon'ami Kōetsu founded an artistic community of craftsmen supported by wealthy merchant patrons of the Nichiren Buddhist sect at Takagamine in northeastern Kyoto in 1615.

Shigaraki train disaster

A special JR West rapid service train (501D) from Kyoto bound for Shigaraki had entered the Shigaraki Line at Kibukawa Station from the Kusatsu Line, transporting 716 passengers to the World Ceramic Festival that was being held in Shigaraki at the time.

Siege of Osaka

Hideyoshi's grave was destroyed by the shogunate, along with Kyoto's Toyokuni Shrine.

Teramachi Street

The street's name literally means "Temple Town", similar to English "Templeton", and reflects the large number of temples moved there during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's remodeling of Kyoto in the 16th century.

Tōji

Tōji Station, a railway station on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan that gives access to the temple

Tommykaira

According to the information spot provided by the PlayStation video game Gran Turismo 2 about the Kyoto-based company, "in 1988 Tommykaira succeeded in introducing Tommy Kaira M30, Japan's first fully modified high performance car ...while in 1997, it manufactured and marketed its original sports car, the ZZ".

Twilight Express

Trains for Sapporo depart Osaka at 11:50, and call at Shin-Ōsaka, Kyoto, Tsuruga, Fukui, Kanazawa, Takaoka, Toyama, Naoetsu, and Nagaoka, with the final passenger pick-up made at Niitsu at 19:39.

Ulfert Wilke

He received the Guggenheim Fellowship twice (in 1959 and 1960), which he used to travel to work and study first in Munich and Rome, and later Kyoto, Japan where he lived in monastery and studied Japanese Zen calligraphy under the monks.