Place names・Kyoto

PontochoPontocho

Also known as: 先斗町

A geisha quarter packed into a narrow strip of Nakagyo Ward between the Kamo-gawa and the Takase-gawa. Read "Pontocho," the place name is notoriously hard to read and its origin remains unsettled: theories range from Portuguese loanwords to an onomatopoeic reading that likens the terrain to a hand drum.

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