"I can see you but cannot reach out to you,
just like the katsura tree on the moon."(Man'yoshu)


[Katsura trees and the moon]

In ancient China, they believed that katsura trees grew on the moon.

Here, Katsura Village, located in the southeast of Kyoto, is no exception in its association with the moon. Legend holds that the seeds of the katsura trees on the moon fell to the earth and made the Katsura forest.

There used to be Tsukuyomisha, a shrine dedicated to Tsukuyominomikoto, god of the moon. This shrine and its precincts attracted aristocrats who came for the moon viewing, boating and hunting. Michinaga Fujiwara, the man of the greatest power in the Heian period (794-1185), had his magnificent villa in Katsura. The gorgeous feasts for the moon appreciation given there were the models for the Chapter of Matsukaze, in the "Tale of Genji".

500 years later, the memories of these stories were passed on to the establishment of the Katsura Imperial Villa.