Located in Shimabara, the Kyoto’s historic “courtesan district", Sumiya is today the only surviving ageya, a type of Edo Period luxury restaurant specialized in sophisticated parties. It has an amazingly beautiful Japanese architecture and a glamorous interior, perfectly matched by the interior garden and the adjacent tea houses…

The old pine features carefully trimmed branches, the sand is painstakingly raked and the stepping stones pathway leading to the tea house completes the image of a perfect Japanese garden… And did you notice the stone lantern, almost hidden by the trees?

Sumiya, Shimabara, Kyoto

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Masterpieces of Japanese traditional architecture, the Hall of Visions