Ukyo-ku, Kyoto
Encyclopedia
Wards of Kyoto
The city of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan has eleven wards.Unlike the 23 special wards of Tokyo, the wards of Kyoto are not separate municipalities, they are divisions just for municipal administration. Together, they comprise the city of Kyoto, under a single mayor and city council....
in the city
Cities of Japan
||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...
of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture
Kyoto Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Kyoto.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Kyoto prefecture was known as Yamashiro....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The word , as opposed to , refers to the western half of the ancient capital of Heiankyō (Kyoto) – the palace faced south, hence west was to the right. The area of ancient Ukyō slightly overlaps the area of present Ukyō-ku.
Ukyo-ku is home to many renowned sites, including
- ArashiyamaArashiyamais a district on the western outskirts of Kyoto, Japan. It also refers to the mountain across the Ōi River, which forms a backdrop to the district.Notable tourist sites in Arashiyama include...
, a hill famed for its maple leaves and the Togetsu-kyō, the Bridge to the Moon - Ninna-jiNinna-jiis the head temple of the Omuro school of the Shingon Sect of Buddhism. Located in western Kyoto, Japan, it was founded in AD 888 by the retired Emperor Uda. It is part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto", a UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:...
, a BuddhistBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
temple with a fine pagodaPagodaA pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,... - Ryōan-jiRyoan-jiis a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan. Belonging to the Myoshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism, the temple and karesansui garden is one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site....
, the ZenZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Buddhist temple with the karesansui (dry-landscape, i.e. raked stones) garden - Sagano, a neighborhood with many temples, including the Nonomiya ShrineNonomiya Shrine, or the Shrine in the Country, is a Shinto shrine in the Arashiyama district on the west side of the city of Kyoto in Kyoto prefecture, Japan...
as well as Rakushi-sha, the Fallen Persimmon Hut - Uzumasa, the location of Kōryū-jiKoryu-jiis a Shingon temple in Uzumasa, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, Japan. The temple is also known by the names and , and was formerly known as , and .Kōryū-ji is said to be the oldest temple in Kyoto, having been constructed in 603 by Hata no Kawakatsu upon receiving a Buddhist statue from Prince Shōtoku...
, a temple founded before Kyoto became the Imperial capital. The neighborhood is also the home of the TōeiToei Companyis a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
Uzumasa Eigamura studios and the center of Japan's television and film industries.
On April 1, 2005, the ward expanded its territory to the area of former town
Towns of Japan
A town is a local administrative unit in Japan. It is a local public body along with prefecture , city , and village...
of Keihoku
Keihoku, Kyoto
was a town located in Kitakuwada District, Kyoto, Japan. The town was the second largest among the towns and villages in the Kyoto Prefecture. The town was entirely on the Tamba plateau. Ninety percent of the area was covered in forest...
when the town merged into the city of Kyoto. This increased the ward's territory from 74.27 km² to 291.95 km².
As of April 1, 2008, the ward has an estimated population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 202,992 and a density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 694.39 persons per km².