Jonangu

Jonangu was founded at the time the capital moved to Heian-kyo, as the guardian shrine of the city's southern approach, and has long been prayed to for protection against misfortune arising from direction. Its buildings are unified in Heian style and carry themselves with real elegance. The garden, Rakusuien, is composed as a sequence of periods — spring hillside, Heian, Muromachi, Momoyama, and the detached palace of Jonan — and is also called the flower garden of The Tale of Genji. Twice a year, in spring and autumn, the shrine holds the winding-stream banquet, where cups float down a channel while poems are composed; it has become one of the seasonal fixtures of the old capital. Weeping plum and camellia colour the garden in spring, maples reflect off the water in autumn, and it draws crowds both times.