When it comes to SC Johnson's favorite city rankings, Kyoto is definitely at the top.

When I came here again in the evening, when I walked down the four streets, I felt that this city full of bright lights and crowded people felt like a huge and illusory mirror.

The name "kyoto" in Kyoto contrasts with the pronunciation of "tokyo" in Tokyo, and the reality seems to be exactly that, as it retains the appearance of an ancient capital, with countless temples, shrines, and machiya in the castle, recording the slow and ancient side.

Although most of the day, it is in a kind of ordinary daily fragments, but when night falls, those memories sealed in the day are opened, and the gods and ghosts, lantern dancers and lantern dancers are accompanied by incredible strange legends, filling the streets and alleys.

When going to Kiyomizu Temple, most people choose to go to the lively Shimizu Saka, and today they take the slightly quiet Chawanzaka. This sakado area, which has been home to potters from all walks of life since the 8th century, is said to be the birthplace of Kiyomizu-yaki. The old pottery shop sits quietly here, and when the wooden door is opened, a slightly hunchbacked old woman beckons to the visiting guests, and the wooden table is filled with a variety of pottery.

Kyoto's scenery flows around these cups, such as jade rabbits, cherry blossoms, and grass patterns. There are also small utensils for less than 1,000 yen, which are piled up at the door for visitors to choose from.

The light of the setting sun leaked on the path, and the voices of people became more and more popular, and Kiyomizudera Temple appeared in front of you. At the same time, the dividing line between dusk and night began to cross in front of me, and the mountains not far away had turned pale blue. The lanterns began to brighten one after another, and a gentle night arrived.

The Sanchizaka and Ninzumaka are linked together, and when you turn from Kiyomizudera Temple to this pilgrimage path, you have entered the Edo period with one foot. These two trails have long been prosperous as the monmae towns of Kiyomizudera Temple, and today they both retain the townhouse buildings from the Edo to Taisho periods.

Tea utensils, Yosegi-zai, and Japanese sweets are all long-established shops that have been in business for generations to maintain the old life of the city. The weeping cherry blossoms in spring pass diagonally through the eaves of the house, creating a touch of beautiful beauty.

A day-night order is taking place, as gift shops selling dolls and fans begin to close, machiya-converted restaurants are lit up, and grandmothers in kimonos and clogs walk solemnly through the streets.

This is the best night view in Kyoto. The five-storied pagoda seen from the side of the hill road looks like a huge building out of thin air, and the five-story eaves and four corners of the spire shape make the tower body more light and elegant. By this time, the distant mountains and floating clouds had become almost invisible in the dark, and the only remaining light came out of the clouds, casting a gentle floating light on the body of the tower.

When the last ray of light disappears on the earth, the tower seems to become illusory, reproducing the cornices with the moon and the sunset on the fence painted by Edada Luban. Tourists almost intoxicated press the shutter in their hands, trying to leave the most touching moment of light and shadow in this world, the so-called one period, one meeting, is exactly what it means.

This was once a place where Toyotomi Hideyoshi's wife, Nene used to walk in her later years, and Nene was the nickname of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's wife, and this way of Nene also maintained the jumping liveliness of Kyoto. There are also eight Buddha statues nearby, the Daikokuten statue, the Budai monk statue, the sacred cow statue, which does not sound very serious, and the husband and wife statues of Hideyoshi and Nene Ning.

Standing at the west gate of the shrine, the four main streets directly opposite are lit up, and the traffic and people form a flowing night scene. The shrine is also home to a lot of tourists at night, so it's more of a leisurely stroll.

At night, more than a thousand white lanterns are lit up in the shrine, and the moonlight is not so dazzling.

There are so many lanterns, many stone lanterns offered by the devotees, and the lanterns that hang in the center of the shrine in Mairakuden, and the huge number of lanterns forms an overwhelming force, silently shaping the traces of the gods' habitat in the empty field at night.

Yasaka Shrine is the oldest and most famous shrine in Kansai, and for more than 1,000 years, the shrine has become the stage of the ancient capital, where entertainers, merchants, and ordinary people perform summer night customs in Gion. At the Yoiyama Festival in the middle of July every year, Koma-shaped lanterns lit up at night to the sound of Gion music ignite the most magical summer night in Kyoto.

As a shrine, it also maintains a majestic side, when Kyoto was called the capital of Heiankyo, because of the spirituality of this land, the four gods corresponded, Yasaka Shrine was used as the guardian god of the Blue Dragon Town, and those ghosts and spirits became clean and pure white under the Yasaka Shrine.

Kyoto's shops close on time, and after eight o'clock, the shops on one street close one after another, and you'll see an orderly city begin to enter a loose night phase.

A boy and a girl in a yukata walked hand in hand on the crowded street, and the two of them looked at each other and smiled while waiting for the traffic light.

A girl who loves literature burrows into Kohonya, and she must choose between complete works of literature, ancient Western books, and ukiyo-e.

There were people lining up to take the bus back everywhere, and some people turned to the izakaya, and that's another story.

The Kamogawa River, which is a variety of Japanese cuisine on the west bank of the Kamogawa River and a kabuki performance venue on the east bank, is the most distinctive symbol of Kyoto. At the bridgehead, unknown wandering entertainers are performing.

On a hot and humid summer night in the ancient capital, Kyoto residents set up the second floor of their machiya on a tatami mat terrace, and nearly 100 high-bed buildings were erected on the Kamogawa River, a scene that was painted by an artist of the Edo period in the ukiyo-e of "The Cool Sunset of the Four Rivers".

This is what makes Kyoto alive, and those tall and magnificent buildings seem to stand on the desolate dirt slopes even if the castle is gone, but Kamogawa is different. Kamogawa is the heart of Kyoto.

When people enjoy the cool breeze and take a bicycle walk along the Kamogawa River, they live at the speed of Kyoto, and twenty years is enough to change the stars of the metropolis, but it cannot change the flow of the Kamogawa River.