The commercial center of Kyoto, west of Kamo River, along Shijo and Kawaramachi Streets is always full of people and it is really hard to navigate through the crowd.  With all kinds of shops, restaurants, department stores you can imagine lining up these main streets (and subway stations underground), it is not just tourists but also locals and business people who come to this area.

This painting may look like a typical urban scene but this is Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital with over a thousand-year-old history.  Among chic boutiques, music stores and French-style cafes, there are Japanese restaurants and specialty shops with an old-fashioned storefront.  They are called shinise and have been doing the same business for decades in a traditional manner.  In Kyoto, it is not unusual to find shinise in business for hundreds of years.


  downtown Kyoto

  Just a step away from busy main streets, we find a quiet alley with old Japanese houses or a serene canal like this that take us back to the old times.


Media: original watercolor
Image Size: 8.25 x 11.5 in. (mat size 14 x 18 in.)
Purchase: Sold


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