Although Kyoto's Arashiyama district is a famous sightseeing area today, it was rustic countryside 700 years ago. The literal sense of the meaning of Enri-an Hermitage is "a place for those who dislike secular society". A top tanka poet in the Emperor's court, Fujiwara no Teika stayed here in order to choose one hundred tanka poems by one hundred famous poets, and then write them in a beautiful calligraphic style on beautiful, traditional, pieces of colored paper. Teika’s colored papers were highly valued at tea ceremonies in the 16th Century, and widely used for Japanese playing cards in the 18th Century. (Open to public only in late November)
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Kyoto Enri-an Hermitage
Rustic, beautiful retreat in Arashiyama

Community writer

Enri-an Hermitage is beyond the path

Pleasant afternoon

Red seeds of nandina

Garden entrance of Enri-an Hermitage

Thatched roof of the hermitage

Colorful leaves

The hermitage opens to the public only in late autumn

Yellow leaves on the ground

Inside of the hermitage

Teika’s memorial stones (the inner stones)

Natural garden
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