Camellia Tea Ceremony

🍁AUTUMN AT KYŌTO'S GREAT WALL🧱

During fall Kitano Tenmangū allows guests to enjoy the maples that grow along the Odoi (御土居). Now mostly leveled, this great berm was created by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to encircle and define the boundaries of the city.
#Kyoto #京都 #北野天満宮

Dec 1 at 2:45amWeb
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The Odoi (御土居) was an earthen berm, erected at the very beginning of 1591 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉).
Standing just short of 5m tall, the 22.5km embankment encircled the city with an outer moat (where there weren't rivers) and numerous 'gates'.

#Kyoto #Japan #北野天満宮

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Straddling the Tenjin-gawa (used in place of a moat along this stretch of the Odoi), Uguisu-bashi (鶯橋) is so-named because bush warblers were once common here.

Although the city limits had moved beyond the berm by 1630, the Odoi existed remarkably intact until the late 19thC.

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One of the best preserved sections of the Odoi (御土居) is at Kitano Tenman-gū (北野天満宮).
Usually out-of-bounds, the Odoi remnant is opened up for visitors during the spring and autumn seasons (for a fee of course).
#Kyoto #京都 #Odoi #御土居 #KitanoTenmangū #北野天満宮 #Japan
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Oimatsu (老松) make a special sweet called 'Kitano ōchanoyu' (北野大茶湯) that is only available at Kitano Tenman-gū during the opening of the Odoi.

The sweet is a thin pancake folded over a white miso filling seasoned with Japanese pepper and poppy seeds.
#Kyoto #Japan #御土居