One of our favorite places was the costume museum (unmentioned in our guidebook) located very near the Nishi Hongan-ji. It is maintained by a commercial fabric firm which creates very elegant traditional woven cloth for bridal costumes, etc. The museum is free and open to the public. When we visited, they had recently constructed a scale model of an ancient Heian palace, peopled by figures dressed in elaborate fashions inspired by descriptions in The Tale of Genji. In an adjacent room, life-size figures wore elegant replicas of ancient Heian costumes. Here is Genji, the "shining prince" of Lady Murasaki's 11th-century novel.
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Paul Brians