Page 193 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

JAP AN REGION B Y REGION  191

WESTERN HONSHU

The cultural heartland of the country, Western Honshu is where Japan’s first imperial
courts held sway, in an area called Yamato. A rich fusion of literature, imagination, and
religious mysticism permeates many tourist attractions, while Osaka and other teeming
cities are vibrant places constantly reinventing themselves. Little wonder that this part
of Japan sits high on the list of places to visit for travelers.

The name Yamato refers to where China, reinterpreted, are set against a
heaven and earth divide, and also to city characterized by quiet stroll gardens,
the land founded by the mythical son the smell of lingering incense, and
of the gods, em peror Jimmu. In the the reflections of winged pagodas in
Japanese mind, Yamato is a holy place, green ponds.
a homeland “whose trees and rocks, Hiroshima, now a surpris ingly pleasant
streams and mountains,” as legendary city, the inter national port of Kobe,
emperor Keiko ex pressed it in verse and Osaka are Western Honshu’s great
form almost two millennia ago, “house metropolitan centers. Osaka, an industrial
the gods.” dynamo best known for its business
Legend solidified into fact in the deals and copious appetite for good
4th century AD when a clan called food, is being transformed by its restless
Yamato expanded its kingdom in the inhabitants into a forum for the arts.
region. Japan’s first emperors, the Yamato Elsewhere, a strong sense of regional
rulers set up court on the Yamato Plain, character is apparent at such destina tions
the site of present-day Nara prefecture. as the exquisite ceramic town of Hagi, the
Nature, religion, and architecture sacred island of Miyajima, the willow-lined
converge in the city of Nara, its antiq uity canals and store houses of Kurashiki, and Ise
evident in its aging wooden temples. Grand Shrine, whose inner precincts are
Here, the rich pantheons of India and sol emnly dedicated to the Sun Goddess.

Meoto Iwa (“wedded rocks”), representing the gods Izanami and Izanagi, Ise Peninsula
The torii gateway to Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima Island

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