A typical scenery in Kyoto: Gion, Kyoto

This is the ordinary scenery in Kyoto. On the facade of the second floor are hung a sudare, a Japanese traditional blind.

It shut out the view and the sunlight inside, and makes the wind get through it. Also it can protect shoji, a paper sliding door, a tatami mat and byobu, folding screen, against the sunlight.

Sudare has been made of ashi, a kind of strew, mainly planted in the Biwa Lake near Kyoto. But now the material is becoming less because less people reap ashi and the shore of Biwa Lake is being developed. So the material is mainly imported from China and Taiwan.

Seen from the outside, the sudare hide the window and it make the facade feel simpler and more elegant.

at Gion, Kyoto
Location by Google Map