"Come, let's go see Higashiyama!"

Directions in Kyoto

　The biggest challenge for Kyoto beginners, I think, is understanding terms like "going up" or "going down," or directions like "west" and "east." I myself found this very difficult, and whenever someone explained things using the cardinal directions, I would often sigh, thinking, "Are these people birds or something?"

　One day, I mentioned this to the mother of a tea shop owner (76 years old, proprietress).
"Honey, Higashiyama is in the east, isn't it?" she said simply.
People in Kyoto mysteriously love this mountain called Higashiyama. It's the mountain on the left when you look upstream from where the Kamo River flows, and it stands like a wall, stretching 12 kilometers north to south. So, no matter where you are in Kyoto, Higashiyama is always to the east. But there are also mountains to the north and to the west...! It seems it will take a lot more time for me to be able to distinguish Higashiyama. I'm still training, secretly doing "Higashiyama challenges" whenever I see a mountain. Older people surely must be able to easily spot Higashiyama even among many mountain images.

　This mountain has been admired for so long that it even appears in ancient folk songs. Lines like "The moon is hazy over Higashiyama, with the bonfires of misty nights" or "In spring, when the flowers bloom, let's go see Higashiyama" (this is a favorite that maiko often dance to in ozashiki performances). It often appears when expressing sentimental inner landscapes.

Becoming a part of Kyoto

　As the cardinal directions gradually become familiar, you start to feel like you've become a part of the city of Kyoto. So, I encourage all you beginners not to be stubborn and think "Are these people birds?", but to actively incorporate these directions into your daily life. By the way, my personal recommended spot in Higashiyama is Shugakuin Imperial Villa. I remember being astonished by the size of the mountain when I learned that Shugakuin Imperial Villa (the size of 12 Tokyo Domes), which a customer took me to because they felt I didn't know enough famous places in Kyoto during my maiko days, was located in Higashiyama.

　By the way, the phrase "izami-gonse" (いざみにごんせ, "let's go see") sounds quite cool, doesn't it?