Pictures from Pontocho

After work is finished I usually walk around in Pontocho hoping to see any Maiko from one of the nearby Okiyas walking about. Pontocho is basically a very narrow street that connects shijo street and Sanjo street and goes along the kamo river so most of the restaurants have an open terrace where you can sit and enjoy your drinks at night time while listening to the river current and also they have very traditional store fronts. I took some pics from this street to show you guys:

This is basically how most of the houses look in pontocho, wooden fences, sliding door entrance, bamboo curtains etc..

I found a very interesting store in Pontocho, they only sell things with rabbits on them and even though their merchandise is super cute , like the Bunny's you see in the picture above, what called my attention more was the fact that the store is a very old traditional style Japanese house and when you walk in you get to experience how small the space in these houses really is.

More traditional style facades, the curved bamboo screen you see on the floor were used long ago by tea houses and restaurants to keep people outside the store from overhearing conversations inside , it is intended to keep people away from the wall, you can see these curved bamboo screens in many places in Kyoto.

The picture above is a display from a traditional sweets shop in Pontocho, the box on the left has hitokuchi warabi which is a sort of jelly with a sweet sesame powder sprinkle on it, to the right is another sort of jelly but this one is mixed with Azuki bean paste, it is called Yokan and it comes inside a bamboo shoot, both these sweets are very very yummy and they have a very light refreshing taste so it is perfect to eat them in spring.

Mata ne!