The 'Hyakunin-isshu' is a compilation of 100 exceptional poems from 100 famous poets, each individually chosen in chronological order.

The compilation was made by Sadaie Fujiwara, a poet of the Kamakura period, and the poems were carefully selected from the 'Kokinshu' and 'Shin-Kokinshu'.

The making of the compilation first started when Sadaie was requested to choose a poem to put on the fusuma door of Rensho Utsunomiya's villa, the Ogura-sanso, in Sagano, Kyoto. The compilation was first named the 'Ogura-sanso-shikishi-waka' or 'Sagasanso-shikishi-waka', but it is most famously known as 'Ogura-hyakunin-isshu'.

After the completion of the 'Ogura-hyakunin-isshu', many other private compilations of 100 poems, each from a different poet, followed. These include the 'Gosen-hyakunin-isshu', 'Genji-hyakunin-isshu', and 'Nyobo-hyakunin-isshu'. Additionally, there is a game called 'utakaruta', which is based on the 'Ogura-hyakunin-isshu'. This 'utakaruta' game started during the mid-Edo period and continues even now.

Sagano is one of Japan’s three famous bamboo forests. At present 6 hectares of bamboo forests are preserved under the Ancient Capitals Preservation Law, and the sound of the wind in this bamboo forest was chosen as one of “100 must-be-preserved sounds of Japan” by Japan’s Environment Agency. The typical walking trail in Sagano starts at Ninomiya Shrine, then leads to Okochi Sanso (villa). In December, Kyoto Hana Touro or the Lighting and Flower Arrangement Lane is held by the local municipality. Every evening during the event, streets in the Saga-Arashiyama area are illuminated by lanterns. Bamboo trees shining in orange light emerge against the darkness of the night and create a magical world.

Hiranoya is a Japanese restaurant at Saga, Kyoto City. You can enjoy a variety of ayu (Japanese trout) of each season at this beautiful thatched-roof teahouse restaurant. Hiranoya was established about 300 years ago in the Kyoho era (the Edo period). This tea house is located just past the torii (shrine gate) of Atago Shrine, which has been admired by the citizens as the holy place to enshrine the deity who takes care not to start a fire. So in the old days the worshippers who passed through torii used to drop in at this tea house and took a rest for a while before heading for the shrine at the top of Mt. Atago, having its specialty of sweet “Shinko” and green tea on the bench. Hiranoya also ran a business of the commission merchant of ayu, and their river fish cuisine of ayu, amago and carp was very popular among the customers. They still serve delicacies of the season including natural ayu and other freshwater fish, matsutake mushroom, yu-dofu, botan-nabe (wild boar hotpot), all unchanged since old times. You can easily spot the restaurant by the chochin lantern seen under the torii. Why don’t you drop in at it once at least when you go to Saga?