Okochisansoteien Garden

On the southern slope of Mount Ogura — the hill of classical poetry — the film actor Okochi Denjiro (1898–1962) built this garden himself, tending it down to the last plant. Pines, cherries and maples carry the composition, Mount Hiei shifts through colour after colour across the day, and the view opens over western Kyoto toward the twin hills mentioned in Essays in Idleness. Among the many gardens of Kyoto it stands with the best of them. A small museum on the site uses photographs and panels to tell the story of Okochi's career in period films — and through it, the history of Japanese cinema from before the war into the years just after.