Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A TRADITION OF VARIED INFLUENCES
While Kyoto is rightly viewed as Japan's cultural storehouse and the capital of its tradition-
al arts, it also boasts a long history of eagerly embracing the new, the exotic and the experi-
mental. A case in point are the Persian carpets and Flemish tapestries which decorate the
Gion Festival floats. Kyoto's savvy silk merchants managed to obtain these Silk Road
products even after the Tokugawa Shōgunate clamped its lid on the country in the mid-17th
century. When the Meiji Restoration of 1868 once again opened Japan to the world,
Kyoto's culturally astute citizens quickly demonstrated as much enthusiasm for European
classical music and painting as they did for Western science and technology. The present
moment finds Kyoto, along with the rest of Japan, showing a renewed interest in the arts
and crafts of its Asian neighbours.
Lacquerware on display at a Kitaoji shop
GREG ELMS / LONELY PLANET IMAGES ©
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