Toriimoto (Saga, Kyoto)

Saga-Toriimoto, in the northwest of Kyoto near Arashiyama and Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, is one of the city's preserved historical streetscapes, where a stone-paved lane ascends past traditional thatched-roof and tile-roof houses toward the temple gate. The district was designated an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, and its low eaves, plastered walls, and irregular roofline make it precisely the kind of subject Ido Masao spent four decades recording. The composition likely sets the lane as a recessional axis, with a sequence of buildings and their overhangs leading the eye toward a torii or temple gate, the surrounding ground treated with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) to suggest changing seasonal light. Mokuhanga is well suited to the subject: the matte clay tones of plaster, the silvered grey of weathered cedar, and the deeper black of the roof tiles all separate cleanly into discrete color blocks. Within Ido's wider Kyoto series, Toriimoto belongs to the body of work documenting the city's preservation districts as opposed to its temples or gardens, registering the lived domestic fabric on which the ancient capital still depends.