Strolling around Kyoto Imperial Palace

We went to Kyoto Imperial Palace Garden last Thursday on a training course.
We walked around the large garden, which is 1.3km from north to south and 0.7km from east to west.







This area was Court Nobles Residential Area in the Edo period.

After the capital was transferred to Tokyo,

buildings were removed and opened up to the public as a national garden.



This is the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Today, there are famous historic spots in this garden including Kyoto Imperial Palace.

This is the Kanin-no-miya court noble.




Itsukusima-shrine

People can also spend their time in nature.

Now we can see few plum blossoms.

We will enjoy viewing plum blossoms, cherry blossoms and peach blossoms in spring.





This National garden is open to everyone anytime.

When you come to Kyoto, would you like to visit here?

You can enjoy Japanese nature and history a lot.

the Office New Year's Party

On February 16th, we held the office New Year's party at Ristorante Strada.
http://www.strada-oike.com/


Most of our staffs partook this party.



At first we had a speech from our president.
We raised a toast and we enjoyed having Italian course meals and chatting for a while.




Each meal tasted delicious and also provided a sense of fullness.




After that, we had a game.

We made 7 teams and competed the speed to place ginkgo nuts on the dish
to another one with chopsticks.

It is very difficult to snare ginkgo nuts with chopsticks because the surface is smooth..



Everyone with a serious look ^^


Of course we could get some prizes. What are there in?






After the game, we sang songs with piano and ukulele playing.

You are my sunshine ~ ♪




The music made us happy smile.

We had a very good time!




We thank you all for your continuing support.


See you!


NISHIYAMA RYOKAN

Setsubun

In Japan, we celebrate "Setsubun" in every Feburary 3rd .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

Setasubun means seasonal division and from past it was believed that during the change of season there are evil spirits appears.
To drive out these spirits there are many festivals and rituals held in all over Japan.

Most popular ritual is called Mamemaki, where throw roasted Soy Beans and call out "Oni ha Soto, Fuku ha Uchi!!" (Demons out! Luck in!).It was believed that Japanise demons (Oni) brings evil sprits.

We visited some places which hold Setsubun events.

At first we visited Senbon Enmado.

You can see the statue of The great king of the Buddhist Hades.

We had boiled Konnyaku(devil's tongue) to exorcise evil spirit.

Secoundly, we visited Mibu dera Temple to see the Mibu Kyogen play(Noh).

We can not take a picture of Kyogen play, but we really enjoyed watching it.

It was fun!!

Finally, we visited Rosanji Temple.

There are three evils walking around us and they attempt to do something bad to us.

Watch out!!

So we try to exorcise them with soybeans.

Phew, then they had gone!

We enjoyed their play too:)

today we have first tea ceremony 2012 .

and thank you for participating .

nishiyama ryokan

Hatsu-ebisu

Today we visited Kyoto Ebisu shrine popularly known as “Ebessann”.
January 10th is the day of Hatsu-ebisu, people enshrines the Ebisu God.
A lot of people visit here to pray for prosperity in their business
and they buy some good luck charms on the day.

There are also many food stalls around there and smells delicious.

Lucky Taxi

This morning, a yasaka taxi with pattern of a four-leaf clover came to our ryokan.
Most yasaka taxies are with a three-leaf clover. Taxies with a four-leaf clover are only 4 in Kyoto city. We cannot make a reservation, so this is very lucky. It is said that this taxi bring you a lucky. If you ride on it, you can get a special certificate and sticker.
When youcome to Kyoto, let’s find yasaka taxi with pattern of a　four-leaf clover.
May this picture bring you good luck!

LOBBY EVENT Jan 2th 2012

thank you for paticipating our lobby event.
today we had big calligraphy event.
this year we wrote this year animal(dragon).
we hope this year is hopeful year.

nishiyama ryokan