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'Ink Bamboo'. Hanging scroll painting by Gion Nankai (1676-1751), early 18th century.<br/><br/> Gion Nankai (1676 - 26 October 1751), birth name Gion Yu, was a Japanese author, confucianist and painter of the nanga (literati) style. He taught Confucianism and wrote poetry and prose. He was influenced by Chinese Yuan and Ming dynasty painters, such as Tang Yin and Zhao Mengfu. His other art names included Horai, Kanraitei, Kikyo, Shoun, Tekkan Dojin and Tekkanjin.
Utagawa Hirokage (active 1855-1865), also known as Ichiyusai Hirokage, was a Japanese woodblock printer living and working in the mid-19th century. He was a pupil of Utagawa Hiroshige I, and his main noteworthy work is the series <i>Edo meisho doke zukushi</i> (Joyful Events in Famous Places in Edo).
Sadanobu's small landscapes of Kyoto and Osaka were produced very much with the Edo artist Hiroshige in mind. Indeed, he also did miniature copies of some of Hiroshige's most famous designs.<br/><br/> Kyoto was the capital of Japan from 1180 to 1868, when the capital was moved to Tokyo (previously Edo) at the beginning of the Meiji Era in 1868. Sadanobu's woodblock prints of 'Famous Places in the Capital' was thus produced towards the very end of Kyoto's position as the Japanese capital, and possibly continued into the first year or two of the Meiji Period.
The Gion Temple (Gion Shrine) is now known as Yasaka Jinja.<br/><br/> Gion is a district of Kyoto, Japan, originally developed in the Middle Ages, in front of Yasaka Shrine. The district was built to accommodate the needs of travelers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. The geisha in the Gion district do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko. While the term geisha means 'artist' or 'person of the arts', the more direct term geiko means essentially 'a child of the arts' or 'a woman of art'.<br/><br/> Despite the considerable decline in the number of geisha in Gion in the last one hundred years, it is still famous for the preservation of forms of traditional architecture and entertainment. Part of this district has been declared a national historical preservation district. Recently, the City of Kyoto completed a project to restore the streets of Gion, which included such plans as moving all overhead utilities underground as part of the ongoing effort to preserve the original beauty of Gion.<br/><br/> There is a popular misconception that Gion was a red-light district. It was a geisha district, and as geisha are entertainers, not prostitutes, Gion is not, and never was, a red-light district. Shimabara was Kyoto's red-light district.
With some 2000 religious sites - 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines, as well as palaces, gardens and architecture, Kyoto is one of the best preserved and most culturally distinguished cities in Japan.<br/><br/> Among the most famous temples are Kiyomizu-dera, a magnificent wooden temple supported by pillars off the slope of a mountain; Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion; Ginkaku-ji, the Temple of the Silver Pavilion; and Ryōan-ji, famous for its rock garden. The Heian Jingū is a Shinto shrine, built in 1895, celebrating the Imperial family and commemorating the first and last emperors to reside in Kyoto.<br/><br/> Three special sites have connections to the imperial family: the Kyoto Gyoen area including the Kyoto Imperial Palace and Sento Imperial Palace, homes of the Emperors of Japan for many centuries; Katsura Imperial Villa, one of the nation's finest architectural treasures; and Shugaku-in Imperial Villa, one of its best Japanese gardens.<br/><br/> The 'Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto' are listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. These include the Kamo Shrines (Kami and Shimo), Kyō-ō-Gokokuji (Tō-ji), Kiyomizu-dera, Daigo-ji, Ninna-ji, Saihō-ji (Kokedera), Tenryū-ji, Rokuon-ji (Kinkaku-ji), Jishō-ji (Ginkaku-ji), Ryōan-ji, Hongan-ji, Kōzan-ji and the Nijo Castle, primarily built by the Tokugawa shoguns. Other sites outside the city are also on the list.
Sadanobu's small landscapes of Kyoto and Osaka were produced very much with the Edo artist Hiroshige in mind. Indeed, he also did miniature copies of some of Hiroshige's most famous designs.<br/><br/> Kyoto was the capital of Japan from 1180 to 1868, when the capital was moved to Tokyo (previously Edo) at the beginning of the Meiji Era in 1868. Sadanobu's woodblock prints of 'Famous Places in the Capital' was thus produced towards the very end of Kyoto's position as the Japanese capital, and possibly continued into the first year or two of the Meiji Period.