feel zen in
Kyoto
If you turn to any guidebook, you will see
that Kyoto became Japan’s capital in 794. It re-
mained so until the Meiji government shifted the
capital to Tokyo in 1868. For more than a mil-
lennium, therefore, almost everything we associ-
ate with classical Japanese culture—kimonos, tea
ceremonies, zen temples and, yes, geisha—came
to its fullest flowering and refinement in Kyoto. It
is also where scores of emperors, as well as cour-
tesans, samurai and haiku-writing priests, made
their homes. These are among the things that
made me chose to explore Kyoto.
I decided to experience the best of Kyoto
wearing a kimono with the belief that it will made
me admire the Japanese culture and its wisdom
even more. Indeed it did more than just that. I
came to a realisation that the kimono is not just
traditional clothing but also something that effects
how you feel, speak, or behave. On putting on a
kimono, my posture was always more balanced
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