Abstract

Arashiyama is the most beautiful spot in Kyoto. Cherry trees blossom there in spring, and in the autumn the maples display their fiery leaves. On the Great Weir River in front of the Moon Crossing Bridge, the water is pure, the mountain colors exquisite, the air still, and the clouds elemental. These can make one feel as if standing on the banks of the Fuchun River, near Donglu,1 and not in a strange land at all. Only the sea gulls that have accidentally wandered up the river serve as reminders that one is not on ancestral soil at all, but on a foreign island